Lincoln's Twin Brother
by Timothy D
Summary: This is basically a fic where Lincoln has an identical twin Brother named Lio. One night, while sneaking out, Lio has a chance encounter with one of his sisters. Contains references to other fanfics and JJBA. First Loud House fanfic, please be kind. Slice of Life fic
1. Lio Loud Chapter 1

It was an early Saturday morning at the Loud House when Lincoln heard someone shuffling around in his room. Turning on the light, Lincoln saw his twin brother, Lio, scrambling to throw on some clothes. His hair was a bit damp, giving Lincoln the impression that he had just recently taken a shower. As it was 4 o clock in the morning, Lincoln was confused as to why Lio was up and about.

"Lio? What're you doing?" Lincoln asked in a whisper so as not to awaken the pair's sisters. "Why are you up so early?"

"The comic shop's opening in an hour and the latest compiled colour volume of JoJolion comes out today" Lio informed him. "Rather than go through the usual morning antics that happens every Saturday, I decided to get a head start and take a shower early. That way, I can avoid the chaos and get my copy of Volume 20 before they sell out."

Yawning, Lincoln turned to the reader and said "When it comes to our interests, Lio I are pretty similar. However, while I prefer comics, he prefers manga and anime. JoJo, obviously is his favorite, to the point where even his hair is styled after his favorite anime villain"

"Now, all I've got to do is avoid 10 sisters and I'll be home free" Lio said, turning to the reader and adding "Since it's early, I think I'll get a headstart and head down to the comic shop and get back before anyone even notices I'm gone." Lio threw on his red Edward Elric esque longcoat/ hood.

"Good luck" Lincoln said before turning off the light and heading back to sleep.

Lio made his way down the stairs and was reaching for the front door when he heard a sniffle. For a moment, Lio wondered if he'd been caught and thus he froze in his place. If Mom caught him sneaking out at this hour, he'd be grounded for at least a month. He slowly turned around, expecting to see one or both of his parents standing in front of him. Instead, he saw no one and heard nothing but almost eerie silence. Keyword being 'almost'. Coming from the living room, Lio could hear that the TV was on. As he expected himself to be the only person awake, this caught him off guard. Still, Lio thought nothing of it and reached for the door once again… until he heard what sounded like faint sobbing coming from the living room. One of Lio's weaknesses was that he couldn't ignore anyone who was crying as he hated seeing someone sad; it was a weakness that all of his sisters and even his twin had exploited at some point or another. Lio tried blocking out the sound of soft sobbing so that he could go collect his manga, but found that he just couldn't. He peaked his head inside the living room where he saw his normally perky older sister, Luan, sitting on the couch with her knees up to her chest, crying her eyes out.

Like everyone else in the Loud Family, Lio was used to seeing Luan cracking jokes, making puns, or pulling harmless pranks (unless it was April Fools Day, in which case, Lio took refuge at the local bookstore until the day was over). She was seemingly always happy, which is why Lio was freaked out to see her sobbing like this. He slowly tiptoed over to Luan and placed his hand on her shoulder, asking "Luan, is everything alright? What's wrong?"

Luan looked over to him, her eyes red and wet from crying, before she looked away as if she were ashamed, saying "Everything's fine. I was just watching a movie and I got a little emotional"

Lio could tell that she was lying and said "We both know that that's not true. What's bothering you?"

"You wouldn't understand," Luan insisted, keeping her back turned to Lio.

"I could try" Lio offered. "Even if you don't think I'll understand, I can still be someone you can confide in." There were a few moments of silence before Luan asked "Do you find me obnoxious?"

"Why would I find you obnoxious?" Lio asked, the question unintentionally flashing him back to that brief period where Luan considered giving up comedy after overhearing her siblings calling her and her comedy annoying. Lio still felt a bit guilty about the whole ordeal, but had pushed it out of his head, thinking that everything had been resolved.

"Because… everyone else seems to think so," Luan told him. "I'm just the annoying sister who makes a fool out of herself."

"I don't think you're obnoxious," Lio replied. "I actually think you're funny"

"You're the only one who does," Luan said sadly. "Everyone else would probably ditch me in heartbeat if they had the chance. And even if they wouldn't, you'd probably all still be happier if I was gone."

"No. No! NO!" Lio whispered to avoid waking up the rest of the house. "I don't know where you're getting these ideas, but you couldn't be more wrong! How long have you felt this way?"

"For a few months now," Luan admitted. "At first, it didn't really bother me. But then I started to notice how miserable I seemed to make everyone. How my puns only elicit groans, how my jokes only annoy everyone, and how unhappy my pranks make everyone. I began seeing just how useless I was. It started driving me crazy to the point where I even thought about running away from home a couple times, figuring that no one would miss me."

"Please, please don't do that," Lio pleaded with her. "I speak for everyone when I say that we'd be torn apart without you. We'd miss you terribly and personally, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't know what had happened to you."

"Really?" Luan asked, genuinely doubting Lio's claims.

"Of course," Lio said. "You're my sister, we're family. Even if I did find you annoying, it would take a lot more than that for me to up and abandon you. It's honestly a but scary to see you like this and to hear you thinking this way. You're normally seem so chipper and joyful."

"That's what I want you all to think when in truth, I'm not as strong as you may think I am" Luan said. "That's the reason I came downstairs in the first place, I didn't want anyone to see me like this, so pathetic."

"You're not pathetic," Lio told her. "I'm curious as to where all this is coming from and why you've been bottling it up all this time"

Luan sighed and said "This might sound weird to you, but I've never really had anyone to talk to. Lori and Leni were always close being the oldest and despite sharing a room with her, Luna and I have never been particularly close with her focusing on music. I've never really had anyone to talk to. That's why I turned to comedy, both for my own comfort and so that I could bring comfort and joy to others."

"I think I know what you're going through," Lio said. "You may not believe me when I say this, but I completely understand; because believe it or not, Lincoln and I aren't the closest either even though we're twins and the only boys in the family. He has a closer connection with Clyde than with me."

"I never knew that," Luan said.

"Yeah, it's true that we don't argue that much, but I've never been able to talk to Lincoln when I'm feeling down," Lio told her. "And since I was rather shy while Lincoln was the more extroverted of the two of us, I've never had friends of my own that I could confide in. Just like how you turned to comedy for your escape, I turned to anime and manga. It's why I aspire to be a mangaka so that I'll always have an outlet for my anxiety and depression and maybe, just maybe, I'll inspire someone else."

"I'm so sorry!" Luan suddenly apologized as she started crying once again. "I know I'm being so selfish right now having a pity party and everything"

"No, no, it's fine!" Lio assured her. "It's for the best that you let this out rather than bottle it up inside. I'm just telling you this to let you know that I can relate. The loneliness, the anxiety, feeling as if everyone hates me. I've been there before. I know exactly how it feels. It's terrible. That's why I want to be someone that you can talk to so that you never have to feel that way again."

Luan wrapped her arms around Lio and proceeded to cry as softly as she could into his shoulder. Lio didn't push her away or recoil and attempt to pull away. Rather, he reciprocated the hug and allowed her to cry on his shoulder. And cry she did, letting out every negative thought that had plagued her mind and every instance of self consciousness. After another five minutes of crying, Luan composed herself, saying "Thank you. Thank you so much." She then noticed Lio's coat was soaking wet with her tears and apologized. "Sorry about ruining your jacket."

"It's okay, really" Lio insisted. "I just want you to be okay"

"I don't know how I could ever repay you," Luan told him. She was surprised by his response.

"You already have" Lio told her, prompting Luan to reply "Huh?"

"Let me explain," Lio said. "You called yourself useless, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Do you remember Lincoln and I's first day of school? When Lincoln and I came home crying because the other kids picked on us because of our white hair? You were the first one to comfort us, telling the two of us that our hair didn't make us weird and that we were the coolest boys you knew. You even told us a few jokes to cheer us up."

 _Following their first day of school, both Lincoln and Lio return home in tears. The older of the twins seems to be trying to hold back his tears while Lio in contrast is crying openly._

 _"Mom, do we really have to go back there?" Lincoln asked as he wiped tears from his eyes._

 _Lio sniffled and said "I'll never do anything bad again, I promise. I'll clean our room, take out the trash, eat my vegetables, anything!" The boy then dropped to his knees and pleaded "Just please don't make me go back there!"_

 _"I know today wasn't the best," Rita said, "but I promise you that things will get better."_

 _"Can't we just stay at home like we used to?" Lincoln asked._

 _"I'm afraid not, sweetie," Rita said sadly, giving her sons a consoling headpat._

 _"I'm too young to die!" Lio exclaimed, crying even harder._

 _"Is everything alright?" Luan asked, peeking her head into the room, "What's going on?"_

 _"Your brothers' first day of school didn't exactly go so well," Rita informed her._

 _"Oh no," Luan said, "what happened?"_

 _"Some kids started picking on because we had white hair," Lincoln explained through teary eyes._

 _"They called us old men and said that we were albino freaks," Lio said._

 _"They wouldn't stop laughing and making fun of us," Lincoln said._

 _"And they kept pelting us with spitballs when the teacher wasn't looking," Lio explained._

 _"That sounds terrible," Luan said sympathetically._

 _"It was," Lio said, "and the worst part is we have to go back!" He cried._

 _"I'm sure that tomorrow will be better," Luan tried to comfort her brothers._

 _"No it won't!" Lincoln replied, "We're just gonna get called names again and made fun of some more."_

 _"It's going to be a nightmare," Lio said, already dreading the upcoming next day._

 _"Maybe I can help turn those frowns upside down," Luan said with a smile._

 _"How?" Lincoln and Lio asked._

 _"With a couple of jokes, of course," Luan answered, starting off with "When does a sandwich cook?"_

 _"I don't know," Lincoln said, "when does a sandwich cook?"_

 _"When **bacon** lettuce and tomato," Luan told him._

 _"Huh?" Lincoln replied, with it taking a moment for him to get the joke, at which point, he laughed, "Oh, I get it now."_

 _"I still don't get it," Lio said sadly._

 _"When **bacon** lettuce and tomato!" Lincoln stressed to him before starting to explain, "Because bacon sounds like-,"_

 _"Sorry, that's on me," Luan apologized, "If you have to explain a joke, there is no joke."_

 _"I feel stupid," Lio said, looking down at his feet._

 _"Well you can't feel as stupid as the fish who forgot how to swim," Luan joked, "He really **floundered**."_

 _Luan's joke got a laugh out of Lio and Lincoln._

 _"Hey Lio, which travels faster, light or sound?" Luan asked._

 _"Ummm… light!" Lio guessed._

 _"Correct and that's why some people appear **bright** until you hear them **speak** ," Luan joked. _

_Lincoln and Lio laughed once again._

 _"You know, I don't trust stairs," Luan said, "they're always **up to something.** "_

 _Lincoln and Lio laughed once again._

 _"Do you have any more jokes?" Lincoln asked._

 _"I sure do," Luan answered before telling another joke, "One of my friends broke her finger today, **on the other hand** , she was completely fine," that joke also cracked up the twin brothers, prompting Luan to ask "How about one more joke? Think you're up for another?"_

 _"YEAH!" Lincoln and Lio answered emphatically_

 _"What's the opposite of Slim Shady?" Luan asked._

 _"I don't know," Lincoln said, "what is the opposite of Slim Shady?"_

 _"Thicc Sunny," Luan answered._

 _Lio laughed and joked "Hi, my name is (what?), my name is (who?), my name is (chicka chicka) Thicc Sunny!"_

 _"So, are you guys feeling any better?" Luan asked._

 _"A little bit, yeah," Lincoln answered._

 _Lio nodded his head in agreement, but admitted "I'm still scared to go back to school tomorrow though."_

 _"Me too," Lincoln said, "I don't know how I'm going to face those kids again."_

 _"Me neither," Lio said before her turned to Rita and asked "Mom, are you sure we have to go back?"_

 _"I'm sorry sweetie, but yes," Rita told him, "you have to go back."_

 _"Hey, who cares what those kids think about you?" Luan said, telling her brothers "I think you two are the coolest boys I know."_

 _"You do?"_

 _"I don't just think so, I know so," Luan replied, "Those other kids are probably just lame-o's jealous of how awesome you guys are."_

 _Lincoln and Lio perked up a little upon hearing that, with a smile forming on their faces._

 _"Thanks Luan!" Lincoln said before he went upstairs, but Lio stayed behind._

 _"Are you alright?" Luan asked him._

 _"I'm fine," Lio muttered with an unsure look on his face._

 _Luan placed a hand on his shoulder and told him "Don't worry, you're going to be alright. Don't let some stupid bullies ruin things for you. It doesn't matter what they say."_

 _Lio perked up a little, but still seemed unsure of himself._

 _The very next morning_

 _"Alright kids, time for school," Lynn Sr said as he counted over his kids before school, "Is everyone all set and ready to go?"_

 _"We're all ready!" Lori answered._

 _Rita did a headcount and remarked, "That seems to be everybody," before noticing that Lio was missing, prompting her to ask "Lincoln, where's your brother?"_

 _"He said that he'd be downstairs in a minute," Lincoln asked._

 _"How long ago did he say that?" Leni asked._

 _"About ten minutes ago," Lincoln said, looking at a clock on the wall._

 _"Poor kid must still be upset over yesterday," Lynn Sr guessed._

 _"I'll go get him," Rita said._

 _"No, I'll go," Luan volunteered, "I think I know just what to say to him."_

 _Luan went upstairs and to Lincoln and Lio's room. The young boy was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, Lio wasn't nearly as good at keeping quiet as he'd later grow up to be. Luan heard a sniffle coming from under the twins' shared bed and quickly looked underneath. As to be expected, she found Lio crying under the bed._

 _"Lio, are you okay?" Luan asked._

 _"I can't do it, Luan," Lio said with a sniffle, "I just can't do it. I'm not strong enough to face those kids again."_

 _"I'm guessing that you're still scared of school," Luan said_

 _Lio nodded his head and said "Yes, not just of being called a geezer because of my hair, but of being called a crybaby too."_

 _"I already told you that it doesn't matter what they say about you," Luan said, "they're just a bunch of losers."_

 _"I know," Lio said, more tears welling up in his eyes, "but… they're evil losers."_

 _"Maybe so," Luan said, "but the thing about evil losers is that they always LOSE to the hero in the end."_

 _"But who's going to be the hero?" Lio asked._

 _"You are," Luan asked._

 _"Huh?" Lio asked._

 _"You can't let those bullies win," Luan said, "you've gotta step up and be the hero."_

 _"But-," Lio started to say before Luan interrupted to give him a pep talk._

 _"All I'm hearing is "but this" and "but that", but that's not the little brother that I know," Luan said, "The Lio that I know wouldn't run away from anybody."_

 _"Don't you get it?" Lio snapped, "I'm just not brave enough! I can't possibly be a hero! I'm too much of a coward."_

 _"So, you think you're a coward?" Luan asked and Lio nodded his head, "Aren't you the same kid who picked up a spider that was scaring Leni senseless?" When Lio nodded again, Luan reminded him, "And aren't you the one who went with dad down into the basement in the dark during a power outage?"_

 _"Yeah," Lio said, starting to regain some confidence._

 _"Does that sound like a coward to you?" Luan asked._

 _"I-I guess not," Lio said._

 _"Then you can totally take this!" Luan assured him. "You've got this in the bag!"_

 _"What if I don't, though?" Lio asked, still unsure of himself._

 _"Hold on a second, I'll be right back," Luan said before she quickly ran to her room and pulled something from her trunk full of gags._

 _That object turned out to be a red magician's cape that Luan had fitted and turned into a hood. Upon retrieving the hood, Luan returned to the twins' room, where Lio was still hidden under the bed. She quickly handed the hood to Lio._

 _"What's this?" Lio asked._

 _"Every hero needs a cape and a cowl," Luan told him, "so I'm giving you your own."_

 _Lio crawled out from under the bed and asked "Really?" as he took the hood._

 _"I know that you're still scared, so I'm giving you this cape," Luan explained, telling the young Lio, "Every time you feel afraid or some kids start picking on you, just pull the hood over your face and flex the cape."_

 _"You actually think I can do this?" Lio asked, feeling slightly more confident in himself._

 _"I **know** you can do this," Luan stressed to him._

 _Lio took a moment to think it over before declaring "You're right! I can do this, I'm Lio Loud!" The boy pulled the hood over his face and extended the cape portion, proclaiming "I'm not going to let some losers bring me down!" before he grabbed his backpack and ran downstairs._

 _Later That Day_

 _The Loud Kids were in vanzilla on the ride back home from school._

 _"So, did anyone pick on you today?" Luan asked Lio._

 _"Yeah," Lio said with a frown, "those kids still made fun of me and Lincoln."_

 _"Oh…" Luan said, adopting a frown of her own._

 _Lio immediately perked up, smiled and said "But I remembered your advice and pulled the hood over my face every time they tried messing with me!"_

 _"That's great!" Luan said._

 _"Yeah, and I found this great book in the library today during lunch," Lio said before he pulled the book out of his backpack._

 _"Ooh, what's that?" Lincoln asked._

 _"It's called Astro-Boy and it's really cool!" Lio explained, "The only problem is that I can't read it."_

 _"Why not?" Luan asked._

 _"Because it's a "manga" and written in another language," Lio said, "I think the librarian said it was called Japanese. She said she would help me learn how to read it and speak it."_

 _"Well that was very nice of her," Rita noted._

 _"Yeah!" Lio said, "And one of the first things I found out was that Japanese people have this thing called anorifics…"_

 _"Do you mean honorifics?" Rita asked, politely correcting him._

 _"Yeah," Lio confirmed, "honorifics like "san" and "kun" and "chan" when referring to someone."_

 _"So I guess it's safe to say that your second day at school went better than your first?" Luan asked._

 _"Yep," Lio answered, "and it's all thanks to you and this cape you gave me. In fact, Lio-kun…" he said, giving off a big excited grin, "wants to be like Luan-chan when he grows up!" He exclaimed as he hugged Luan._

 _"Aww," Rita said, "isn't that sweet?"_

 _"I'm just glad that I could help you out," Luan told Lio as she reciprocated the hug._

Luan remembered that event as she had it on videotape. She didn't expect Lio to remember that day as it happened so long ago. Incidentally, it was that day that also spurred Luan's desire to improve her comedy so that she could always cheer up her younger siblings. "I'm surprised you even remember that day. At the time I was just really starting out in comedy, seeing you two so torn apart was what motivated me to get better."

"How could I not remember that day, it's one of the fondest memories I have," Lio revealed. "And that's not the only time you've helped me out when I had a tough day…"

 _"You are the worst brother ever!" An 8 year Lio shouted at Lincoln as the two were escorted inside the house by their mother. "How could you do this to me!?"_

 _"It was just a joke! I didn't expect it to go the way it did" Lincoln defended himself._

 _"I'm never talking to you again!" Lio declared._

 _"Fine by me, drama queen!" Lincoln replied. The two twins huffed and turned their backs to each other, crossing their arms._

 _"That's enough, both of you!" Rita scolded the twins._

 _"But mom" They both said._

 _"No buts," Rita said. "Now Lincoln, I think you owe your brother an apology"_

 _"What's going on?" Luan asked, peeking her head out of the living room._

 _"Apparently, your brother, Lincoln, thought it would be funny to release all of the mice that the school's biology class were planning on dissecting," Rita told her. "The mice ran amok and Lincoln was caught on camera setting them loose. Since he and Lio are identical twins, the principal couldn't tell which one of them was actually responsible so he suspended both boys for three days."_

 _"It's not fair!" Lio shouted angrily, tears trickling down his face. "How come I have to be punished for something HE did?! I didn't even do anything!" Lio then ran up the stairs to his and Lincoln's room, slamming the door behind him, ignoring his mother as she called for him, trying to calm him down._

 _"Hmm, let me go see if I can maybe cheer him up" Luan said to her mom before following Lio upstairs. She gently knocked on the door, only to hear Lio say "Go away, Lincoln. I'm not in the mood"_

 _Luan opened the door to see Lio lying on the bed, his face buried in the pillow. "You going to be alright, Lio?"_

 _"No!" Lio said angrily. "I'm tired of always getting mixed up with Lincoln or people thinking that we're the exact same just because we look alike. It's so frustrating! It's even worse whenever I get blamed for something that he did."_

 _"I can imagine so" Luan said, sympathizing with Lio. "I'm sure Lincoln didn't mean to get you in trouble."_

 _"I just wish that there was something I could do so that everyone wouldn't mistake us for one another"_

 _"Maybe there is" Luan suggested._

 _"How?" Lio asked._

 _"You could maybe change up your hairstyle or change the way you dress" Luan suggested. "Something that would make you stand out from Lincoln."_

 _"Change up my hair?" Lio asked. "But how should I change it up? I don't want to look too crazy; I just want to look different from Lincoln."_

 _"That's for you to decide," Luan told him. "You can make your hair look however you want. Maybe you can change it up so that it looks like your favorite character from those Japanese comics you always read."_

 _"Like my favorite character?" Lio wondered, thinking for a few seconds before saying "Luan, you're a genius!" He then asked "You wouldn't happen to have any hair dye, would you?"_

 _"As a matter of fact I do" Luan said, handing Lio a bottle of black hair dye. "You never know when the perfect opportunity to prank Lori or Leni may come up"_

 _"I'll be back in a few minutes" Lio said, rushing to the bathroom to change up his hair. A few minutes later, he emerged with a completely new hairstyle. His hair was now perfectly combed back, but rather than being all white as it had originally been, it was striped with black strands. In a way, it resembled an inverse oreo. Lio then returned to Luan, asking "How do I look?"_

 _"You look awesome!" Luan told him. "That'll definitely help you stand out."_

 _It was at that moment that Lincoln came upstairs, saying "Listen, Lio, I'm really sorry about- whoa, what happened to your hair?"_

 _"At Luan's advice, I decided to change up my hairstyle so that we no longer look alike" Lio told him. "Now, no one else will ever mistake me for you again."_

"It's because of you that I have the sick hairstyle I'm still rocking today," Lio said happily, running his hand through his hair. "I owe it all to you. And those two examples aren't the only thing I thank you for."

"Remember how earlier I mentioned that I could relate to what you're feeling and how I said that you've already repaid me?" Lio asked. Luan nodded her head. "Part of what helped me through those bad days was you. Whenever I was down, I'd always hang around you because your jokes always made me laugh to the point where I'd forget what was upsetting me. If it weren't for you, I don't know how I would've made it through those depressive episodes. There are still days when I'll hang around you when I feel like I can't go on because you make me laugh. I meant what I said when I said I thought that you were funny. Out of all of my siblings, you're the one I'd say I'm closest to because I can always turn to you. Whether it's to cheer me up or for advice."

Luan started tearing up again, although this time they were tears of joy. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Lio in another hug. "You have no idea how much I needed this!"

"No problem" Lio said.

Luan then glanced at the clock and said "It's 5 AM, aren't you going to head to the comic shop so you can get the latest JoJolion volume before they're sold out?"

"How did you?" Lio asked.

"I overheard you and Lincoln talking," Luan answered. "You're going to be late if you stick around"

"Meh, I can always read it online," Lio replied. "Family is so much more important. Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be okay," Luan said. "Thank you again"

"We've still got a few hours to kill before the others wake up, let's see what's on TV" Lio said, grabbing the remote. Even if Luan was going to be okay, Lio wanted to stick around just in case. When Luan mentioned that she thought of running away from home, it scared him to his core. He didn't know how he'd be able to cope if he lost one of his siblings. It made him realize that he took his family for granted. That'd be a mistake he'd never make again. The two found a reality TV show and decided to watch that.

"Hey, did you hear that 19 and 20 got into a fight?" Luan asked midway through. "21"

Lio laughed and smiled. It was good to hear Luan joking again. "Promise me you'll never leave us"

"Little Brother, I promise you that I'm not going anywhere" Luan vowed.

* * *

A few hours later, the Loud House was hectic as the siblings awoke. Soon, they were all partaking in their favorite activities, with Lori talking to Bobby, Luna writing new music, Leni talking to her friends, Lana playing in mud, Lynn making a new sport, etc.

"Hey, did you manage to get your manga?" Lincoln asked Lio as he stripped down to his underwear to read his comic books.

"Nah, something more important came up," Lio said, working on his own manga, entitled Tokyo Planet Outlaw. "I can always read JoJolion online, it's no big deal."

"Whatcha working on?" Lincoln asked.

"The latest chapter of Tokyo Planet Outlaw" Lio told him. "The theme of this chapter is family and how you should never take them for granted because you never know when they could be gone."

"Sounds like it'll be great," Lincoln said. "Can't wait to read it when you're finished."

"Trust me, I think you'll love it" Lio said as he sketched a panel showing a ponytailed heroine coming to the aid of the protagonist right when he needed it the most. Later that day, Lio returned to his room, where he found something lying on his bed. Picking it up, Lio saw that it was Volume 20 of JoJolion in full colour. It didn't take much thought for him to figure out who it was from. With a smile on his face, Lio lied back so he could read the latest in the Joestars' bizarre adventures.

 **Okay, so I recently became a fan of The Loud House. By far, my favorite character in the show is Luan (even when she's April Fools psychotic). What can I say? I have a huge weakness for jokes and puns. Anyway, I recently thought up a Loud House OC by the name of Lio Loud. He's the family otaku, being a huge fan of anime and manga as well as an aspiring mangaka. In terms of appearance, he looks identical to Lincoln, except his hair is modeled after Yoshikage Kira's (to get an idea of what it looks like, search up "Matured Kira" on google. This fanfic contains references to other fanfictions, specifically "The Whole Picture (Continuation)" and "Luan: A Loud House Tale". They say the people who are the funniest are usually the most depressed so I decided to explore this concept with Luan. I kinda wrote this for myself for comfort and relaxation before deciding to share it. If you're reading this, I hope you enjoy and apologise as my writing isn't the best. I haven't decided if this'll be a one shot or if I'll make more chapters.**


	2. Lio Loud Chapter 2

Chapter summary: Lio tries to learn how to say "no" to his siblings so he can catch his favorite TV show in time.

"Friday once again, it feels like it took forever to get here," Lio said as he looked at the calendar. He then turned to the reader and said "You might be confused so let me explain. Every Friday at 7pm, my favorite TV show, Celeste, airs a new episode. It's based on one of my favorite video games and the protagonist is incredibly relatable. It took weeks of diplomatic negotiations to secure the TV at the time, but it was all worth it. All I've got to do is be in front of the TV before 7 and I'll be home free. Since it's 3 right now, I have 4 hours to get ready. I'd better go get my snacks ready."

Before Lio could get the chance however, Lio was approached his younger sister, Lisa. "Lio, real quick, do you have a minute or two?" She asked.

Thinking nothing of it, Lio said "Sure. What do you need?"

"I'm on the cusp of a major scientific breakthrough and I need a test subject for my latest experiment," Lisa told him. "I asked Lincoln, but he said "no". Apparently, he's still bitter about the last experiment; in my defense, nobody could've foreseen him growing a tail as a result."

"I thought Mom and Dad forbid you from using your siblings as experimental guinea pigs anymore," Lio reminded her, flashing back to that experiment with Lincoln. Never had he felt more sorry for his twin.

"What Mom and Dad don't know won't hurt them," Lisa argued. "Please, I really need to test this out. This could be the most important experiment I've conducted. I promise this won't leave you horribly maimed or crippled."

"Oh, alright, but we've got to make this quick" Lio agreed. "Celeste comes on in a few hours and I simply CANNOT afford to miss this episode."

"This'll only take a few minutes, I promise you," Lisa assured him, grabbing him by his hand and dragging him towards her and Lily's room. Once they were there, Lisa handed Lio a waiver and a pen, telling him "Before we get started, I really need you to sign this."

"I thought you said this experiment wasn't going to leave me horribly maimed of crippled?" Lio replied, nonetheless signing the waiver.

"It won't," Lisa insisted, taking the waiver from Lio's hands. "Or at least it shouldn't. You should be perfectly safe" Lisa then handed Lio a vial containing a mysterious blue liquid. "Now, drink this and stand over there" She pointed to the other side of the room.

"Mmm, kinda tastes like blueberries" Lio observed as he stood on the other side of the room.

"Now, just stand still," Lisa ordered him before pulling out a green device that resembled a ray gun and aiming it at him. Lio was already starting to regret saying yes to Lisa. Still, if this was all Lisa required before allowing him to continue with his preparations, then so be it. "Now, you may feel a slight stinging sensation, but I assure that that is perfectly normal."

"The things I do for love," Lio muttered before Lisa zapped him. It only lasted a single second and true to Lisa's word, Lio only felt a brief slight stinging sensation. "Huh, that was it? That was easier than I expected" It was only then that Lio realized that he was floating a few centimeters off of the ground. "OH MY DIO, WHY AM I FLOATING?!"

"Calm down," Lisa said. "This simply means my experiment was a success! I've managed to discover a way to induce zero gravity!"

"Oh, so this was supposed to happen?" Lio asked as he tried to plant his feet on solid ground to no avail. "Cool. This is kinda neat, I suppose. Now can you give me back my gravity so that I don't float away?"

"No need, the effects of this gravity gun will wear off in anywhere from 10 minutes to a half an hour" Lisa told him.

"Phew, that's good to hear" Lio said, wiping sweat from his forehead when all of a sudden his right hand started to turn inside out in a gruesome fashion, causing him to panic. "What's happening to my hand!? Uh Lisa… was this supposed to happen?"

"Oh dear, this would appear to be an unforeseen side effect," Lisa said, scrambling to look over her notes. "It would appear that the gravity gun somehow inverted the gravitational forces acting upon your body, causing you to turn inside out"

"Well hurry up and do something, this is starting to get freaky!" Lio shouted as his entire right arm turned inside out, exposing the muscle underneath, causing him to freak out even more. "OH NO!"

"Hang on" Lisa said, grabbing the gravity gun. "Perhaps a second blast from the gravity gun will undo the initial effects and turn you back to normal."

"Shoot me! Shoot me!" Lio yelled as his left hand started to turn inside out. "Do whatever you have to, just turn me back to normal!" Lisa obliged and blasted him a second time with the gravity gun. Rather than revert back to normal however, Lio instead started floating even higher off the ground and towards the ceiling. "I knew I should've just said "no"" Lio thought to himself. Much to his relief, Lisa's hunch was correct and his left hand turned right side up followed shortly afterwards by his right arm.

"I guess I need to make some alterations to the gravity gun," Lisa said. "Rest assured Lio, next time we try out the gravity gun, the results won't be as squicky."

"That's great, but now I'm stuck up here" Lio said. "What am I going to do now?"

"As I said before, the gravity gun's effects should wear off after 10 to 30 minutes," Lisa said before tossing a notebook and a pen up at Lio. "In the meantime, write down if the zero gravity has any other adverse effects on your body such as if it affects your bladder in anyway."

30 minutes later, Lio was back on solid ground. Never again would he take gravity for granted. Lio made a mental note to steer clear of Lisa and her experiments in the near future. Only 3 and a half hours until the premiere of the new episode of Celeste. Now that that was over, Lio could get down to preparing his snacks. At least, until another sister caught him.

"Yo, Lio, you got a minute?" Lynn asked him, tossing a football at him.

"What can I help you with?" Lio asked.

"I need a partner that I can practice football with," Lynn informed him. "We've got a huge game this week and I need all the practice I can get."

Lio glanced at the clock again and thought to himself "I've got plenty of time, I can spare a few minutes for Lynn." Lio then turned to Lynn and said "Sure, I've got some time to spare. Let's go!"

Lio and Lynn head out to the backyard, pigskin in hand. "Alright, I need to work on my defense so I'll kick the ball off to you first" Lynn said. "Try to get to the other end of the yard by getting past me. You've got four tries to do so."

"Hmm, sounds easy enough" Lio said, only for Lynn to reply "You say that now, but you have no idea who you're dealing with." Lynn then kicked the ball off to Lio, who caught it with ease and ran full speed ahead. He made it 2 feet before Lynn flattened him, knocking him for a loop.

"Did anyone get the number of that road roller?" Lio asked, seeing stars swirling around his head. He slowly stumbled back onto his feet, a bit dizzy from being knocked to the ground so hard. He shook his head quickly to recover as his own competitive side took over. Against his better judgment, he taunted Lynn, shouting at her "Is that the best you've got?"

"Oh, believe me, I'm just getting started" Lynn replied. "Care to try again or did I hit you too hard for you to stand?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Lio said, getting into position to make his next play. "All you did was give me a light love tap and you think that's enough to make me say "uncle"? It's going to take a lot more than that to get me to throw in the towel." Lio looked Lynn in the eyes before saying "Go!" and snapping the ball to himself. He leaped to the left, dodging Lynn's attempt to tackle him with a pounce. Lio made a mad sprint for the other side of the yard and to his credit, he made it halfway there to the point where he actually thought he'd make the touchdown.

"Not so fast, Little Bro!" Lynn said, easily catching up to Lio and grabbing him by his ankles, bringing him down to the ground. "Hope you didn't think you could pull a fast one on me. I'm as quick as I am strong! You have two more attempts to get a touchdown. Unless you want to turn the ball over now, that is."

"There is no way I am giving up," Lio declared confidently before thinking to himself "Now if I was the protagonist in a sports manga such Slam Dunk or Hajime no Ippo, what would I do to come out victorious in this situation. Perhaps I can keep Lynn from catching me by running in a zig zag pattern so that she has more difficulty catching me. It's not much of a strategy, but it might be practical enough to work. After all, on the last drive, I made it almost halfway to the goal before being tackled. Alternatively, I could throw the ball into the air and catch my own throw for a victory. Alright then, it's been decided, I know what I must do."

"Hello, Lio, are you there?" Lynn called out to him. "You're staring off into deep space, are you going to make your move or not?"

"Aren't we eager for someone who's about to bite my dust," Lio replied, cracking a smile as he got into position to make his next play. "I am determined not to lose so prepare yourself because this is the drive where I claim sweet victory!"

"We'll seem about that," Lynn said, fiercely determined not to let Lio score a touchdown.

"Go!" Lio said, taking a step back for throwing the ball into the air. He juked an attempted tackle from Lynn and ran forward to catch his own throw. He turned around and leapt into the air, reaching him arm out to complete the catch and ensure himself the win. Unfortunately for Lio, Lynn was right in front of him and she brought him down to the ground before he could make the catch.

"Nice try, but you're going to have to wake up pretty early if you want that trick to work on me," Lynn said.

"I knew I should've gone with the zig zag" Lio thought to himself as he picked himself up off the ground once again.

"Alright Lio, you've got one last try to get to the other end of the yard, then it's my turn" Lynn said.

"Okay, time to stop playing nice," Lio remarked, crouching down before saying "Go!" and making a mad dash for the end goal. He didn't expect to make it all the way, but much to his surprise, he actually made it. "Oh yeah! Who's the man? I'm the Man!" He took the time to celebrate.

"You do realize you only made it as far as you did because I let you, right?" Lynn pointed out, causing Lio to reply "Don't ruin this for me." Before continuing his celebration.

"Alright, now it's my turn," Lynn said. "Kick the ball off to me and let me show you how it's done"

Lio obliged and kicked the ball off to Lynn. "Okay, now all I have to do is make sure she doesn't make it past me, sounds easy enou-'" Lio said to himself before attempting to block Lynn from getting to the other side of the yard. For his troubles, Lio was knocked aside and onto the ground by a charging Lynn, leaving him dazed. "Why did I agree to this again?"

"And that's how it's done," Lynn said as she made it all the way. She reached down and helped Lio up off the ground. "I hope I didn't knock you around too bad."

"Heheh, I'm fine" Lio said, clutching his shoulder.

"Thanks for your help," Lynn said. "After that practice session, I feel like I'm more than ready for the big game! Catch you later!"

Lio barely had time to get himself together before another sister approached him. "Hey Lio!" said Lana. "There's a freshly made mud puddle with my name on it and I'm in the mood for some mud wrestling. Care to join me?"

Lio shrugged his shoulders and said "Sure, let's do this. Besides, I'm seeking a little retribution after our last bout"

"Great!" Lana said, leading Lio to the mud puddle. "I hope you're ready to go down!"

"Oh please, last time you just got luck-'" Lio said before Lana pounced on him and drove him into the mud puddle, saying "First rule of mud wrestling, talking is NOT a free action!"

Lana drove Lio face first into the mud, holding his head down. Lio fought back, grabbing Lana by her shoulders and rolling her over onto her back. As she was one of his younger sisters, Lio took great caution to avoid hurting her. That was a big mistake on Lio's part as Lana had no such scruples. She used her legs to hurricanrana Lio onto his back and smear his face with mud.

Lana tried transitioning into a sleeper hold, but Lio shook her off and rolled around for several seconds, getting both siblings covered in mud. Lio tried to pin Lana and hold her down to claim victory only for Lana to use her legs to push him off. Lio fell on his back and when Lana got close, he used his legs to lock her in an armbar.

"Oh, so you've got some fight left in you?" Lana said. "I like that in an opponent. Let's go!" Lana then slipped out of the armbar and picked Lio up off of the ground in a power bomb position. She then slammed Lio onto the ground, leaving him stunned for a few seconds. Lio was thankful that he was slammed into something soft like mud otherwise he'd be in a lot more pain right now. Lio decided to stop going easy and slammed Lana onto the ground with a belly to belly suplex. He then put Lana into a sleeper hold, intending to make her submit. Unfortunately for him, Lana decided to get out of the submission by biting his arm.

"Ow! Did you just bite me?" Lio asked, grabbing his arm and caressing where he'd been bit.

"Sorry Big Bro, but you know that when it comes to mud wrestling, you know I don't play fair" Lana told him.

"I guess it's safe to say that you fight dirty" Lio joked, prompting Lana to groan and say "Leave the puns to Luan" before she grabbed Lio by his waist and flipped him over onto the ground on his head with a German suplex. Lio rolled through and tripped up a charging Lana before holding her face down in the mud, a little payback from earlier.

Lana once again wriggled out and proceeded to lock Lio into an STF, wrenching the hold in. It didn't take long for Lio to submit. "Ow! Uncle! Uncle!" Lio cried, tapping out.

"Your winner and still the mud wrestling champion OF THE WORLD: Lana Loud!" Lana yelled, celebrating her victory as she let Lio go. "Thanks Lio! That was fun!"

"No problem," Lio said before fainting.

* * *

"Man, playing football with Lynn and mud wrestling with Lana took 45 minutes," Lio said as he threw his clothes into the washing machine. "Celeste still has a little over 2 hours before the new episode. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it in time"

"Hopefully" Lucy said as she suddenly appeared behind Lio, causing him to jump in terror and remark "Really need to put a bell on you"

"It wouldn't work, trust me," Lucy said. "Can you help me with something?"

"Sure, Lucy, what do you need?" Lio asked.

"I'm trying to catch some bats in a nearby cave so I can take them in as pets," Lucy said. "I can't catch them no matter how hard I try, as they just keep flying away every time I get close. They won't even bite me so I can become a vampire, so will you help me?"

"Lucy, everyone knows that if want to become a vampire, you use an ancient Aztec stone mask," Lio said. "Secondly, wouldn't it be easier to try catching a few Conqueror Worms?"

"This is no time for Edgar Allan Poe references," Lucy said, causing Lio to frown. "I promise that this'll only take a few minutes, so can I count on you?"

"You can count on me," Lio told her. "Besides, I was looking to research exotic locations to help me with Tokyo Planet Outlaw, anyway"

Lucy and Lio arrived at the cave with flashlight in hand, looking to catch some bats. Lio had a butterfly net in hand while Lucy had a cage for whatever bats they caught. Lio told Lucy to stay outside so that he could check the cave out first and make sure there wasn't anything dangerous lurking in there. Upon seeing that everything was safe, Lio gestured for Lucy to come inside.

"Alright, let's find these bats," Lio said, somewhat excitedly as he took in the scenery. Almost immediately, a bat swooped down at the pair. Lio was prepared and tried to catch the bat with the net, but missed. "Elusive little creature. No wonder you had trouble catching it."

"There's more than one," Lucy said, pointing upwards. "Look up above you."

Lio immediately did so and saw a swarm of bats hanging upside. There had to have been at least a hundred bats all hanging overhead. "Holy guano," Lio exclaimed, eyes widened as he instinctively pushed Lucy behind him. "How on earth did we miss that?"

"How are we going to catch all of these?" Lucy whispered.

"We'd be lucky to catch one or two of these bats with being bitten a thousand times," Lio whispered back. "Nevertheless, I promised I'd help you catch a bat so I'll keep going. Just try to keep quiet and keep a hold of that cage, I have a feeling we're going to need it in a minute."

"Got it" Lucy replied.

Lio stood up on a couple of stalagmites to be able to reach the bats, being extremely careful to avoid disturbing the bats and possibly send them into a frenzy. Suddenly, Lio felt the sudden urge to sneeze at precisely the wrong time. "Ah, ah, aah" Lio came close to letting out a sneeze, only to fortunately stop himself just in time. "Phew," Lio whispered to himself. "That was a close one" He crept close to one of the bats and prepared his butterfly net. He slowly moved in to capture the avian creature when the urge to sneeze returned and this time he couldn't control himself. "ACHOO!"

Almost immediately, the bats awoke with a screech. Before the bats could make their move, Lio shouted at Lucy "RUN! I'll meet you outside!" Lucy obeyed and ran outside, leaving Lio behind to deal with the swarm of bats all flying in a frenzy. Lio fell off of the stalagmites he was standing atop and landed with a thud. Lio still had the net in his hand and used it to swat away bats that swooped down at him. Keeping his head low, Lio navigated his way out of the cave and in the process, actually managed to catch one of the bats in his net. With the goal accomplished, Lio made a mad sprint outside, coming out of it with a few minor scratches on his face.

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked him.

"I'm okay," Lio said before showing off the bat he had caught. "Open up the cage, I got you a bat" Lucy opened the cage and as Lio moved to put the bat inside, the bat in his hands bit him on his right arm. "Ow! The little bugger bit me"

Lucy immediately hugged Lio, saying "Thank you for your help, I owe you big time."

"It was my pleasure," Lio said as the two returned home, Lio debating whether he should get a rabies shot.

"Okay, maybe now I can get ready for Celeste" Lio said before bumping into his twin, Lincoln.

"Hey Lio" Lincoln greeted him.

"What's up, Linc" Lio greeted him.

"Say, can I ask a favor?" Lincoln asked him.

"Ask away," Lio said.

"Okay, so I kind of owe Clyde a favor and I could use your help with it" Lincoln said, causing Lio to ask "What kind of favor do you owe Clyde?". Lincoln replied "I promised I'd get him a lock of Lori's hair for his new locket, but you know how Lori is about anyone going into her room. Think you could give me a hand?"

"So you want me to risk getting clobbered so that you can fulfill your promise to Clyde without getting on Lori's bad side?" Lio asked, seriously questioning his actions in life. Lincoln nodded and Lio reluctantly said "Alright, I'll help you out. Just help keep Lori distracted, okay."

"Thanks Lio, you're a lifesaver" Lincoln said.

The twins devised a plan where Lio would sneak into Lori's room, find her hairbrush and retrieve a few locks of her hair while Lincoln kept lookout and would keep Lori from entering the room until Lio had made a safe exit. However, if Lincoln failed to provide a good enough distraction and Lori caught Lio, it was agreed that Lio would be on his own. Why Lio agreed to these terms, he had no idea, but it was too late to turn back now. Lio peeked into Lori and Leni's room before making his way inside. Thankfully, both girls were currently away, leaving Lio with (hopefully) plenty of time. He tiptoed inside and immediately began the search for Lori's hairbrush.

Lio made his way to Lori's side of the room, hoping that he could be in and out before anyone even knew he was there. The first place he looked was on Lori's bed, hoping that perhaps she had left it behind. No such luck and Lio moved on to look on Lori's bed stand. Aside from a lamp Lori's diary (which Lio wasn't touching with a 20 meter pole, he was already in deep enough by breaking into Lori's room in the first place, no need to go off and sign his own death warrant), there was nothing on the nightstand. That hairbrush had to be around here somewhere. Lio moved onto looking on Lori's dresser where he finally found what he was looking for. Lio questioned why he didn't just look there in the first place. Alright, now all that was left was retrieve the strands of hair and get out before Lori returned. He was just about to exit the room when he heard Lori coming up the stairs. Lio froze in place and hoped that Lincoln would provide a well enough distraction for him to escape or at the very least, sneak out without being seen by Lori.

"Oh Bobby, I'm so looking forward to our date tonight," Lori said, talking over the phone. "I literally can't wait to see what you have in store for me,"

"Hey Lori, how's it going?" Lincoln asked, standing in front of Lori to block her path.

"Get out of my way, dweeb," Lori said. "I've got a date I have to get ready for."

"How interesting," Lincoln said, stalling for time. "Say, where are you and Bobby going tonight? Perhaps Ronnie Anne and I can tag along, make it a double date"

"How about no," Lori replied. "Bobby and I really need some time away from our hectic families. Tonight is going to act as alone time for the two of us"

"Are you really going to go out with your hair looking like that?" Lincoln asked, causing Lori to freak and ask "What's wrong with my hair?" Lori then ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror, giving Lio the chance to exit her room unseen.

"Here's the hair you requested," Lio said as he handed the strands of Lori's hair to Lincoln.

"Thanks Lio, I owe you big time," Lincoln said.

"Don't mention it," Lio said, his life having flashed before his eyes while in Lori's room. "Just do me a favor and never ask me to do something so suicidal again."

"I've gotta get going, Clyde and I are going to catch a movie in a few minutes," Lincoln said, waving goodbye to his twin as he departed.

"Speaking of a few minutes, how much time to I have left until Celeste?" Lio asked himself, glancing down at his watch. "2 hours, sounds good. For a second I thought I was going to die before I got the chance to see the new episode. Now if I can just avoid doing anymore favors, I should be in the clear."

At just that moment, Lori emerged from the bathroom, looking for Lincoln. "Lincoln, there was literally nothing wrong with my hair, what were you talking about?" She asked, still sounding worried about the state of her hair. She didn't see Lincoln, but she did see Lio and said "Oh, Lio. Maybe you can help me out with something."

"I knew I should've kept my big mouth shut" Lio thought to himself before asking Lori "What can I help you with?"

"I have this big date with Bobby later on tonight and I need to make sure I look my absolute best," Lori told him. "I know your show comes on in a couple of hours, but I promise that this'll literally take you no time at all"

"I'd be happy to help you," Lio said despite a voice in his head telling him "You have no obligation to help her." Lio mentally replied to the voice by saying "I've already helped 5 of my siblings, it won't hurt to help another. Besides, it's the least we could do after invading her room."

"Thanks, Lio," Lori said before tossing Lio a French Maid's outfit. "Now put this on" Lio didn't question why this favor required him to wear the outfit, but instead went along with it. "First thing I need you to do is help me comb my hair. Even though there doesn't appear to be anything with it, you can never be too sure."

"Hmm, doesn't sound too difficult," Lio said, thinking to himself. "This may be the quickest favor I've done all afternoon". Once again, Lio had spoken too soon as a few minutes later, Lio found himself tasked with giving Lori a foot massage. Not too hard of a task, but it did chip into his getting ready for Celeste. Lio didn't think this had anything to do with a date, but then again he had no knowledge of love.

Shortly after massaging Lori's feet, he found himself retrieving her lemonade from the kitchen, all while wearing the French Maid's outfit. It was there that he ran into Luan. As his evening had consisted of doing favors, the first thing that came into his mind was "Lord DIO, please don't tell me she wants me to do something for her too."

"Hey Lio, tell me what you think of this joke," Luan said. "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? He didn't have the guts"

Lio laughed, thankful for the joke as it gave him some much needed comic relief. "That was a pretty good one"

"Thanks," Luan said before noticing Lio's get up. "What're you doing?"

"Getting lemonade for Lori," Lio answered, causing Luan to ask "Why?" Lio answered "Because she asked me to."

"Doesn't your show come on in an hour and a half?" Luan reminded him.

Lio nodded his head and said "Yes, but I've been running around doing favors for everyone else"

"Why?" Luan asked.

"Because they really needed help with what they were doing," Lio answered. "And I didn't want to let them down, but at the same time if I keep doing things for everyone, I'm going to miss my show"

"Then why don't you just tell them no?" Luan questioned.

"I've thought about saying no, but again, I don't want to disappoint any of them" Lio told her. "Besides, it's not like it'll hurt me to help out my family and I do have Celeste set to DVR."

"Lio, you always do this" Luan said. "You always get excited for something, only to end up getting sidetracked doing favors for everyone else. You've got to learn how to stand up for yourself. It's alright to say "no" every once in a while. No one's going to hate you for it."

"But what about Leni?" Lio asked. "She's always doing something kind for others. If she can make it through okay, why can't I?"

"Leni is her own person" Luan pointed out. "And despite her kind heart, even she isn't a doormat. She knows when to say no and when to stand up for herself. You can't keep saying yes to everyone's requests"

"You know what, you're right," Lio said. "Starting from this moment forward, I'm going to stop doing what everyone asks me to do!"

"That's the spirit!" Luan said. "One more question though: Why are you wearing that outfit?"

Without missing a beat, Lio struck an extravagant pose and replied "Because I look absolutely fabulous in it!"

Luan laughed and said "I guess you could say that outfit was maid for you. Get it?"

Lio chuckled before saying "Alright, I'm going to say no to whoever asks me to do anything, starting now!"

"LIO! Where's my lemonade!" Lori called from upstairs.

"Coming, Lori!" Lio replied, running up the stairs with the lemonade in hand, causing Luan to facepalm. As he was running up the stairs, Lio noticed the strange looks the reader was giving him so he turned to them and said "Hey, you're just jealous that you wouldn't look half as good as I do in a French Maid's outfit."

"Okay, that last one doesn't count," Lio said to the reader. "NOW is when I start saying no"

"Hey, Lio!" Lola called out to him. "Wanna play Mafia Princess Tea Party with me?"

Lio took a deep breath and…

"I'm sure you're curious as to why I called you here for this discussion," Lola said, in character as the eponymous Mafia Princess. "Recently, one of your members killed one of our capos. I was under the impression that there was a five way truce between the families. And yet, you Passione gangsters killed a central capo belonging to the Loud Family? Care to explain yourself? The violation of such a vital truce is grounds for another gang war"

"Aw yes, I believe you are referring to the death of Franco Forelli, am I correct?" Lio asked, also in character. "Madam Loud, you must understand that Passione has strict rules for any gangsters who carry out their business on our turf. We are normally very lenient, but Don Giorno Giovanna made it quite clear what activity isn't allowed on our turf. Considering the fact that one of your Loud members was on our turf, yet eagerly disregarded a very simple rule, we also had the grounds to start another gang war, and yet…" Lio took a sip of his "tea". "We did not. For you see, Passione is a very merciful family and we do not want to see vast amounts of bloodshed. Therefore, we were content to simply take out the rule breaker and carry on with our operations."

"Interesting," Lola said, sipping her tea. "Tell me why I shouldn't convince my father to wage war against Passione?"

"Because," Lio said. "If Passione presented its case for the execution to the rest of the Families, we are confident that they would see it as justified. Secondly, for as powerful as the Loud Family is, Passione is far more powerful and has a far greater influence on the city as a whole. When your members are counterfeiting cash down by the docks, do remember that Passione is the one who pays off the police to turn a blind eye to your business. We control the airports that fly in the plates your machines use to print the phony cash. If you were to wage war, you would surely lose." Lio had a warm yet smug and passive aggressive smile on his face as if to rub it into Lola's face that her family couldn't retaliate.

"Does your Don, Mr. Giovanna, know of the hit you carried out?" Lola asked.

Lio shook his head "No and it is for your benefit that he doesn't know. While Mr. Giovanna is a very noble man who goes out of his way to protect the innocent, he is very ruthless to those who violate his cardinal rule." Lio took another sip of his tea.

"And that rule is?" Lola asked.

"Don't deal drugs, especially to minors," Lio revealed. "When Don Giorno Giovanna took over Passione, he made it his mission to curb the drug trade, which he saw as poisoning the community. Anyone who is caught dealing on Passione turf is as good as dead and unfortunately for your capo, he was caught dealing to children." Lio then coughed a couple of times.

"Are you alright?" Lola asked.

Lio nodded his head and said "Yes. It is a bit dusty in here, no?"

"Yes, quite" Lola agreed before returning to the business at hand. "Anyway, back to the matter at hand, was it necessary for Passione to take such immediate action? You're lucky I'm good at controlling my temper otherwise a few of your members would be sleeping with the fishes right now."

"Calm down, Madam Loud," Lio said. "The issue has been settled. There is no need for any further bloodshed." With that smug grin on his face, he added "Just be sure to rein your boys in and, if you must partake in the heinous drug trade, be sure that you don't do it on Passione territory. That seems like a fair offer, no?"

Lola sighed and said "I suppose so."

"Very well," Lio said as he rose from the table, only to suddenly collapse.

"By the way, dust wasn't the reason for your coughing fit earlier," Lola told him, causing Lio to question "Hmm?" Lola then explained "Before you even got here, I laced your tea with a potent poison. You should savor your last drink as best as you can."

"N-No, how could this happen to me?" Lio asked as he broke into a coughing fit once again.

"You're fond of quoting Edgar Allan Poe, so allow me to hit with a quote you're likely familiar with," Lola said. "No one strikes my family with impunity."

"Of course," Lio cursed himself. "How could I be so naïve? I forgot just who I was dealing with. The Loud Family may not be the most powerful, but bloody their nose and they come back at you twice as fierce."

"You're right about one thing: there's no need for any further bloodshed," Lola said. "I'll have my men make sure your death looks accidental so as to avoid retaliation from Mr. Giovanna. Now perish."

Lio went into his death throes before getting up and promising to play Mafia Princess Tea Party again with Lola soon. "Okay, I know I said I'd start saying no, but Mafia Princess Tea Party is a fun game," He said to the reader.

"Aaaugh! Come on, Luna, think, think, think!" Lio suddenly heard Luna say. Against his better judgment, he knocked on the door to Luna and Luan's room and found the former sitting with a notebook in hand, multiple wads of crumpled up paper at her feet.

"Everything okay, Luna?" Lio asked.

"Not even close, dude," Luna told him. "I've been trying to come up with a new song all afternoon, but nothing good is coming to me. Think you could maybe help me out"

"Yeah, I'll help you out," Lio said before he could catch himself. Too late to back out now. "What kind of song are you going for?"

"It's supposed to be something like a party song," Luna said. "Something that can get your blood pumping, that can get you hyped! It's supposed to have an exciting vibe to it, but I can't even think of the opening verse. This is driving me insane, man!"

"Hmm, play something on your guitar and I can help you out" Lio said. Luna, having nothing to lose and going nowhere on her own agreed and in the process, Lio quickly thought up the opening lyrics. "Sit back, baby kick back; get pumped, and then turn up the bass; This music'll make you jump, make you move from place to place…" Lio then shook his head and said "No, no, that won't work."

"Hold on a minute, dude, I think you might be onto something" Luna said. "Say that verse again." Lio did so and Luna picked up where he left off. "Lyrics cut just like a knife, get you ready for the night; tell me, are you ready to have the time of your life" "Blimey! I think I've finally got something."

"Awesome!" Lio said before he and Luna spent the next 20 minutes crafting lyrics to the song.

"Wow, I've finally finished" Luna said before heading to the garage to practice. "Thanks for your help, little bro!"

"It was my pleasure" Lio said before running into Leni. "Oh hey Leni, what's going on?"

"Nothing really," Leni said. "Say, can you help me out with something?"

"Just say no, just say no, just say no" Lio thought to himself before doing the exact opposite. "Yes I can. What do you need?"

"I'm going to a party tonight and I need your help picking a good outfit" Leni said. She then pulled out two dresses, one that was striped black and blue and the other being coloured red.

"Hmm, that's an easy one, you should go with the dress that" Lio started to say before Leni interrupted him.

"Hold on, I wasn't done" Leni said, pulling out 3 more dresses. One was a royal purple dress, the other striped hot pink and red, and the third being gold and purple. "Oh, and I have even more outfits in my room that you just have to check out!"

"Oh dear," Lio thought to himself. Lio found himself looking at over 23 different outfits before Leni asked him to make a decision. "Okay, if you want my opinion, I think you should go with outfit #7-'"

"Oh wait, nevermind" Leni said. "I think I'll just wear what I'm wearing now."

Lio's eye twitched as while the favours for his other siblings had taken up his time, at least those had a purpose. This, on the other hand, was a complete waste of his time. If it wasn't for how innocent she was, Lio would've assumed that Leni intentionally did this to mess with him. Whatever the case may be, he was finally done doing favors and could head to the TV to watch Celeste. Or so he thought. As he made his way downstairs, he caught his youngest sister, Lily crawling around on the floor.

"Hey Lily," Lio said as he picked her up. "Man, after doing favors for everyone I am exhausted. I'm been tackled, bitten by bats, tapped out and even C-Moon'd, but now I get to sit back and watch my favorite show. Thankfully, you don't need me to do anything, do you?"

Lily simply smiled at Lio and said "Poo Poo" before Lio smelled something foul. With a sigh, Lio said "I spoke too soon, didn't I?" Lily laughed and clapped her hands, prompting Lio to smile back at her and say "I can't get mad at you" before he moved in to change Lily's diaper. The task didn't take long and once he was finished, Lio put Lily back down and made his way downstairs to watch Celeste.

"Aw, finally… time to myself" Lio said to himself as he sat down on the couch.

"Um… Lio" Lincoln said as he and Luan sat down next to Lio.

"Hold on a minute, I've been waiting for this all day" Lio said.

"But Lio…" Luan tried to tell him.

Lio's eyes were glued to the TV however and would soon be filled with disappointment when he heard the words "And that concludes another exciting episode of Celeste. Tune in next week for another great episode." Lio's eyes darted towards the clock on the wall, where he saw that it read "7:31 PM"

"Bro, are you going to be alright?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm… um… going to need a moment" Lio said, prompting Lincoln and Luan to jump behind the couch, preparing for the eminent outburst. Lio took a deep breath and shouted "NOOOOOOOO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Nuh-uh! Wryyyyyyy…" and face planted into the floor.

"Done?" Luan asked, peeking her head out from behind the couch.

"Not quite" Lio said, slowly raising his head up from the ground and back up to his feet. "NO! NO, NO, NO! NOOOOOOO! Whoa!" Lio then slipped and fell back onto the sofa, saying "Okay. I'm done." Upon regaining his composure, Lio lamented "I don't know where the time went. I had over four hours to get ready. Then I acted as a guinea pig for Lisa, acted as a practice dummy for Lynn, then I mud wrestled with Lana… oh, now I'm starting to see where all of my time went."

"Sounds like you got overwhelmed doing favors for everyone else" Lincoln said.

"I just couldn't help myself" Lio said. "I tried saying no, but I just didn't have it in me. Ugh, I'm such a doormat."

"No you're not" Lincoln said to his twin with Luan adding "You just have a tendency to put your family before yourself. That's pretty admirable"

"You think so?" Lio asked.

"Yeah" Lincoln said. "My advice for you would just be try not to let others manipulate you in the future"

"I'll try my hardest," Lio said before Lincoln and Luan smiled at him and asked "So, do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Yeah, I'll get right on th-, I mean no." Lio said, prompting laughter from the 3 siblings.

"So today, I learned that sometimes it's okay to say no" Lio said to the reader. "And while it felt good to do something for my siblings, I am kinda bummed I missed Celeste" With a smirk, Lio then said "But for the record, don't expect a repeat of tonight next week." Lio spent the rest of the night practicing how to say no.

 **The purpose of this chapter was to show Lio's interactions with his other siblings.**


	3. Lio Loud Chapter 3: The Party

Chapter summary: Lincoln tries to help Lio get over his crippling fear of social interaction so that he can attend an upcoming party.

Another long day at school was slowly ticking by. Ever since the transition to middle school, Lincoln, Lio, and Clyde found things to be a bit strange. For Lincoln and Clyde, the two were still closer than brothers (something Lio could tell you about firsthand) which made the transition a bit easier. It was a calm, quiet Wednesday when Nikki, a fellow sixth grader, approached Lincoln, Clyde, Stella, Liam, Rusty, and Zach during lunch while the group were eating.

"Hey, you're one of Lynn's younger brothers, right?" Nikki asked Lincoln.

"That's me," Lincoln answered.

"Great, so I'm throwing a party this weekend and you and your friends are all invited, think you can make it?" Nikki asked.

"You bet we can make it!" Lincoln answered, looking back at his friends.

"Cool, the party starts at 7, so don't be a stranger" Nikki said before asking "Oh, and by the way, do you think you can get your brother to come along? One of my friends kinda has a crush on him and I promised her I'd get him to come. So what do you say?"

"You mean Lio?" Lincoln asked, glancing over to the table on the far dark side of the cafeteria, where Lio sat by himself, as per usual. "I don't know. Lio isn't really the partying type. In fact, now that I think about it, he isn't much of a people person in general. I'll see what I can do."

"Well, some of my friends really want to get to know him," Nikki said before pulling out two amusement park tickets. "If you can get him to come to the party, I'll give you $50."

That caught Lincoln's attention. Ronnie Anne was visiting in two weeks and this would provide him with the ability to do something special for her. "In that case, I'll make sure he's there. I guarantee it" Lincoln said.

"Great, I'll see you guys this Saturday at 7" Nikki said before leaving.

After Nikki left, Stella asked "What is up with your brother, anyway? He never seems to hang out with anyone and he's always by himself."

"Lio's a bit afraid of social interactions," Lincoln explained. "It all stems from an incident during our first day in kindergarten. Some kids taunted us for our white hair and it basically put Lio off from contact with any other human being outside his family. It's to the point where whenever our family goes on vacation, Lio spends the entire trip hiding in the hotel room just so he doesn't have to talk to anyone. Heck, one time we went to the beach and Lio completely buried himself in the sand the entire time."

"It's true," Clyde said. "It took Lio years to get familiar enough with me to even talk to me. He doesn't do it to be rude and I don't think he hates people, he's just so afraid of talking to others he mentally shuts down at the thought. The only time I've ever seen him interact with someone on his own volition is when he confronted Ronnie Anne when he thought that she was bullying Lincoln. An encounter that didn't exactly end well for him."

"Do you think you can get him to attend the party?" Rusty asked Lincoln.

"If I can, it would no doubt be a miracle" Lincoln said. "Usually, whenever I want him to do something, all I have to do is ask and he'll say yes, but for situations like this… it's not so easy."

"Well, you heard what Nikki said, pull this off and you've got yourself 50 dollars" Clyde pointed out. He then looked over to where Lio was eating lunch, where the latter was absentmindedly working on his manga. "You've got your work cut out for you"

"Look, I'll talk to him and I know that I can get him to come around," Lincoln said. Later that day after school, the twins were at home, enjoying their down time along with the rest of their siblings. Lio was working on the latest chapter of Tokyo Planet Outlaw when Lincoln decided to bring up the topic.

"So Lio…"

"What's up, Lincoln, is everything alright?" Lio asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Lincoln said before cutting right to the chase. "There's this party this Saturday and I think it'd be cool if you came along."

Almost immediately, Lio's eyes became as wide as dinner plates and he looked around nervously as he started to sweat. The very idea of going to a party terrified him so he was looking for any excuse to say no. "Oh gee, Lincoln, I'd love to go but I have to uh…" Lio said, looking around for an excuse. "I have to help Lynn practice for her upcoming baseball game."

"Nah, no need" Lynn told him. "Our game was postponed for next week so I've got some down time."

"How convenient" Lio said, looking defeated, but still trying to think of a way out of this. "Well still, I have to help Leni practice for her next driver's test."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Lori says she's going to help me." Leni spoke up.

"Oh," Lio said, starting to sweat more and more with each passing second. He turned to Lisa and asked "Hey Lisa, what do you say we try again with the gravity gun? See if you worked out the previous kinks?"

"I'm going to have to say no to that," Lisa said. "Unless you want to be irreversibly turned inside out once again?" Lio weighed his options: go to party or be brutally mutilated? The latter option seemed more appealing to him as it'd give him a convenient excuse to no show the party. Lisa seemed to know what he was thinking however as she added "Keep in mind that that means your eyes will be turned inside out as well, meaning you can't read or write your manga."

"That puts that out of the question," Lio remarked. "Say Luan, don't you have a birthday party this weekend? If Lincoln's going to a party, that means you're going to need someone to act as your interim assistant, right?" Lio looked at Luan pleadingly, as if begging her to bail him out of this situation.

"Sorry Lio, but the party I'm clowning at is on Sunday," Luan told him. "I think you should go to the party with Lincoln, you might have fun. It might even help you get over your phobia"

With no other choice, Lio used his second to last resort, turning to Lincoln and saying "As tempting as going to a party sounds, I'm going to have to say no to the proposal."

"Huh, he actually has it in him," Lola said in response to hearing Lio say "no".

"Come on, Lio, just this once come out with me" Lincoln pleaded. "How long are you going to hide yourself away from the world?"

"Believe me, Lincoln, I actually would love to go to the party with you," Lio said with sincerity. "But, I just, I just can't… the thought of being somewhere with a crowd of other people… it terrifies me. Why do you think I stayed in my room that one time Lori threw her party? I can't handle being in the presence of others."

With a grin, Lincoln said "Maybe you just need someone to help you get over your fear"

"How is anyone going to do that?" Lio asked.

"Just leave it to me," Lincoln told him. "I'll teach you everything you need to know about talking to people without completely shutting down. Just follow my lead and you'll be a partying machine by Friday"

"I have a bad feeling about this" Lio said.

The next day after school, Lincoln had taken Lio out to the mall so that he could practice interacting with other people. The training hadn't even began and already Lio was a near nervous wreck, having broken out into a cold sweat at being surrounded by strangers. His knees were trembling and he couldn't help but to look around in every direction, as if fearing that someone was going to strike. Lincoln could sense his nervousness and gripped his shoulder to help calm him down.

"It's alright" Lincoln told him. "There's no reason to be afraid, nobody's out to get you"

"Wh-Why did we come here?" Lio asked nervously.

"We're here so that I can help you get over your fear" Lincoln told him. "I know that it can be intimidating for you to be around all of these people, but I feel the first step to help you learn to interact with others is to have you be in a crowd that was you can see there's nothing to fear."

"Lincoln, I am surrounded by people I don't know," Lio said. "I am absolutely mortified. My knees are weak and my arms are heavy, the only thing missing is mom's spaghetti on my shirt."

"J-Just try to stay calm," Lincoln tried easing his brother's fears. "Like I said, no one's out to get you, no one's going to make fun of you. Everything will be fine, I promise you."

Easing up a little bit, Lio looked around and when he saw people chatting with each other and having a generally good time, Lio relaxed slightly. "Y-Yeah, everything's fine. I can do this. I can do this."

"That's the spirit" Lincoln said. "You've got this. I know you can do this" Lincoln then thought to himself "If this goes smoothly, that $50 will be as good as mine."

Lio was honestly a bit intrigued as he watched people go about their day. It honestly amazed him how easily they could strike up a conversation. He was almost envious by how carefree they seemed so casual and carefree in their interactions. Still, Lio made sure to do his observation from afar. Just like the character he had based his hair on, the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself.

"Okay, this actually isn't so bad" Lio said before turning to Lincoln and asking "So can we go home now?"

"Not yet" Lincoln told him. "I want you to try and say hello to someone"

"You want me to do what?!" Lio exclaimed, looking at Lincoln as if he were crazy.

"You're never going to get over your fear if you don't learn how to talk to people" Lincoln said. "You don't have to start a fullblown conversation, just walk up to someone and say "Hello, nice to meet you", okay? You can do this."

"Yeah, you're right, I can do this" Lio said to himself, trying to hype himself up. In the process, he accidentally bumped into a woman, who turned around and said "Oh, hello there. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there"

Lio opened his mouth to say "Hello, nice to meet you", but instead he froze in place, becoming near catatonic as his eyes became blank.

"I-Is he okay?" The woman asked Lincoln.

"He's fine, he's just extremely shy" Lincoln said before slapping Lio to break him out of his stupor. Lio twitched as if he were an android and the first thing he said after being slapped was "Hello human, it is a pleasant experience to meet you"

"I think I'm going to go" said the freaked out woman before walking off.

After she left, Lio turned to Lincoln and said "See? I told you I'm not cut out for this talking to people thing. This is hopeless."

"Lio, you've only tried speaking to one person, don't expect it to be an immediate success" Lincoln told him. "You just need a little more practice."

The next several hours consisted of Lincoln trying to get Lio to talk to several mall patrons, but every time someone even got close to Lio, he'd completely tense up and freeze dead in his tracks. His eyes would go blank as if he were in a trance and he couldn't bring himself to speak. Internally, Lio was on the verge of a fullblown panic attack the second someone even looked in his direction. Finally, Lio had a full fledged freak out as he yelled "NIGERUNDAYO!" and ran out of the mall as fast as he could. Lincoln followed after him and the twins returned home, no progress having been made with making Lio comfortable being out in public.

"How'd it go?" asked Luna.

"Terribly" Lio answered. "I think I had 3 panic attacks just trying to say "hi" to people. If I go to that party, there's no way I'll be able to come out of there without freaking out"

"If I could make a suggestion, why don't you just go to the party and find a nice quiet corner to sit in by yourself" Lucy suggested.

"That's a great idea," Lincoln said. "That way you don't have to worry about breaking down trying to talk to others".

"I guess that could work" Lio said. "But what if I do if someone tries to talk to me?"

"If someone says hello, just silently nod at them and go back to what you were doing" Lori advised him. "Alternatively, Just play the role of awkward nerd and literally, nobody will want anything to do with you"

"O-Okay" Lio said. "Thanks for the advice, Lori"

"That money is as good as mine" Lincoln thought to himself. "Although, I'll be honest, I do feel a bit bad for using Lio like this. I'll make sure I make it up to him."

The next two days went by in a blur for Lio and when the day of the party arrived he was still petrified. He just couldn't shake the terrible feeling in his gut as every terrible scenario that could happen raced through his mind. He knew that he was likely just being paranoid, but that didn't stop him from worrying.

"Alright, Lio, are you ready to go?" Lincoln asked him.

"Ohhhh… the things I do for love" Lio muttered.

"I'll take that as a yes" Lincoln said. Noticing his brother's look of utter fear, Lincoln placed his hand on Lio's shoulder and said "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. Come on, let's go."

The pair arrived at Nikki's house where the party was already bumping. There was music playing, kids dancing, and a table of sugary snacks available. Lio made a mental note to himself to steer clear of chocolate as whenever he ate chocolate, he turned into a sugar rushed crazy ball of chaos. Lio quickly slinked over to the quietest corner he could find while Lincoln met up with his friends.

"I can't believe it, you actually got him to show up" Clyde said, amazed. "How did you do that?"

"I told him it'd help him get over his fear of people" Lincoln explained. "He may not become the life of the party, but at least he'll be comfortable around others."

"Don't look now, but it looks like your brother's getting some attention" Stella pointed out as a girl and two boys crowded around Lio.

"So you're that quiet kid from school who doesn't talk to anyone, what's the deal with that?" One of the boys asked. "Are you some type of mute or something?"

"Um… well you see…" Lio tried to say.

"Back off, can't you see you're making him nervous?" The girl reprimanded the boy before saying to Lio "It's okay if you're not the talking type. We just hope you have a good time."

"Yeah," The other boy said. "We just came to say hi and that it is nice to meet you"

Freaking out and not knowing what to say, Lio blurted out "Happy, joypy, nice to meetcha-py" garnering laughs from the kids.

"You're pretty cool" The girl said. "Anyway, we won't bother you anymore. Hope you enjoy the party"

After they left, Lio breathed a sigh of relief and patted himself on the back for not having a complete meltdown.

"I have to admit, he handled that better than I expected," Lincoln said before Nikki approached him.

"Wow, you actually got your brother to come along" Nikki said, impressed.

"I promised you that I would" Lincoln replied.

"Well, a deal's a deal" Nikki said, handing Lincoln a $50 bill. "Here's the money I promised you. You two have fun"

Lio spotted this out if the corner of his eye and walked over to Lincoln, asking "What was that about?"

"What was what about?" Lincoln played dumb, but Lio was having none of it.

"I just saw Nikki give you money and heard her say "A deal's a deal", what's that about?" Lio asked. "Did Nikki pay you to get me to come to the party?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Lincoln tried to lie, but Lio gave him a stern look that made it clear he didn't believe him. Lincoln turned to his friends and said "Guys, back me up here"

"Sorry Linc, but this seems like a family issue" Stella said as she, Clyde, Liam, Zach and Rusty backed off.

With no other choice, Lincoln admitted "Okay, it's true. Nikki did pay me to get you here, but just try to hear me out"

"Why?" Lio asked. "Why did Nikki want me here? I've never spoken a word to her"

"Well… it turns out that one of her friends has a crush on you" Lincoln explained.

"So you brought me here to hook me up with an unknown girl?" Lio questioned, getting angry. "How could you do this? I thought this was about helping me get over my fears."

"It was, I mean it is" Lincoln insisted. "Listen, just try to hear me out"

"I think I've heard enough," Lio said. "I'm outta here!"

"Lio, wait!" Lincoln said, grabbing Lio by his shoulder. "I know what I did was kinda scummy, but I promise I'll make it up to you. Just try to stick around a little longer. See if you can maybe enjoy yourself."

Lio was prepared to tell his twin off, when Lincoln pulled teary puppy dog eyes. Lio had no defense against that and thus he said "Alright fine, I'll stay, but you owe me big time." Lio then stormed off, returning to the dark corner of the room. A few minutes passed before Lio was suddenly approached by a tall pale skinned girl with waist long black hair.

"So… I take it you're not enjoying the party?" The girl asked him.

"N-no" Lio stammered, nervous beyond belief. "I-I'm only here because my brother dragged me along."

"You're Lincoln's brother, right?" The girl asked. Lio nodded and the girl said "I'm guessing you'd rather be at home, living a quiet life, am I right Killer?"

"Was that a?" Lio asked, unsure if the girl had just intentionally made a JoJo reference.

"You bet it was" The girl said. "My name is Kat, by the way. What's yours?"

"Lio" Lio answered, feeling a bit more at ease. "Lio Loud"

"Lio, huh? Is that your real name or are you Yoshikage Kira in disguise?" Kat joked. "Judging by your hair, I'm guessing it's the latter"

"Careful, you don't wanna trigger Bites the Dust, do you?" Lio joked back. "I won't let anything disturb my ambitions. I wish to live a quiet life, but when you live with 11 siblings, things tend to get a little Loud"

"It's nice to meet another JoJo fan," Kat said. "And judging by your jacket, I take it you're a fan of Fullmetal Alchemist as well?"

"Oh, I'm a total Fullmetal fan," Lio said. "I've actually been doing art commissions to save up for the FMAB blu ray set"

"Oh, you do commissions?" Kat asked. "Didn't know you were an artist."

"To be fair, no one except my family knows anything about me" Lio said. "But when you aspire to be a mangaka, you've gotta start somewhere"

"Say, what do you say we go out on the dance floor and do the "torture dance"?" Kat asked.

"I-I dunno," Lio said. "I don't do well when all eyes are on me. I hate being the center of attention."

"C'mon, I promise I'll be right beside you, it'll be alright" Kat tried to assure him, grabbing him by his hand. Lio was uneasy at the thought, but felt this new foreign feeling of "companionship" felt good. Thus, he went along with Kat and joined her on the dance floor. When the music was right, the two pulled off a picture perfect rendition of Golden Wind's iconic torture dance. From a distance, Lincoln and Clyde were watching in awe.

"Well, would you look at that, looks like Lio's actually enjoying himself" Clyde commented. "I'm not going to lie, I totally didn't see that coming."

"Neither did I," Lincoln said. "but I'm happy for him. It looks like he's actually making a friend."

Suddenly, Lincoln and Clyde felt someone grab them from behind and spin them around. The two found themselves staring face to face with two big burly boys that they instantly recognized from the previous Halloween. They were the two kids who had almost ruined Halloween for the kids of Royal Woods and who the Loud family had scared the pants off of. Hank and Hawk were their names.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," Hawk snarled as he and Hank grabbed Lincoln and Clyde by their collars. "Looks like we found the two geeks who scared us last year."

"Thanks to you and your family of freaks, we had nightmares for weeks" Hank said.

"Hey, I don't remember inviting you two blockheads to the party," Nikki confronted the bullies. "What're you doing here?"

"We heard there was going to be candy here so we figured we'd crash the party" Hank said. "What're you gonna do about it?"

"Yeah, what're you gonna do, call the cops?" Hawk taunted. "Now beat it, this is between us and them"

"Hey, leave them alone!" Lio spoke up from the dance floor, coming to his brother's defense.

"Lio, what're you doing?" Kat asked.

"Confronting these two jerks," Lio told her. "Lincoln may have dragged me here against my wishes, but he's still my brother and nobody messes with my family!"

"Lio, you can't seriously be thinking about fighting them," Kat said. "They're at least twice your size. You'll get pulverized."

"I know, but I grew up with 10 sisters, I can take a little beating" Lio said before turning his attention to the bullies. "I won't ask again. Let them go. Now."

"Oh yeah, and what are you going to do if we don't, twerp?" Hawk taunted as Lio approached him and Hank. Hank let go of Clyde, who ran off, but Hawk maintained his grip on Lincoln. By now, a crowd had gathered and although Lio was currently freaking out, he stood his ground. He then did something that surprised everyone and shoved Hawk onto the ground. There were a few moments of silence, with the two bullies stunned that someone actually stood up to them, allowing Lincoln to get away. That shock didn't last long as Hank came to his buddy's aid and punched Lio in the face.

"Dumb move, dweeb" Hank said, picking Lio up off the ground by his collar and punching him in the face a second time and Hawk kicked him in the ribs. "Now we're going to pound on you instead."

"Leave him alone" Kat said, coming to Lio's defense as Hank raised his fist to punch Lio again.

"Yeah, right, as if we're scared of some gir" Hawk said before Kat knocked him out cold with a punch to the face. Hank then swung at Kat who ducked and delivered a picture perfect kick to his groin. Hank gasped and dropped to the ground.

"Don't make me get mean, grab your friend and get out" Kat warned Hank. Hank, not wanting to get kicked again, grabbed his friend and left the party, leaving the crowd to cheer. Kat then tended to Lio, who was sprawled out on the floor. He had a black eye and a busted lip, but other than that appeared to be fine. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright" Lio told her. "Thanks for helping me out back there. You're pretty hardcore."

"Thanks," Kat said, helping Lio up off the floor. The two looked each other in the eye for a few seconds before they turned away, blushing.

"I now know for a fact that I don't like parties, but what do you say the two of us… um, what is it that friends do?" Lio asked.

"Hang out?" Kat answered.

"That's it," Lio said excitedly. "What do you say the two of us hang out some time?"

"That sounds like fun," Kat said. "I look forward to it"

The twins returned home later that night, where they were immediately greeted by their sisters. Upon seeing Lio's black eye, Lisa asked "So I take it the party didn't go so well?"

"On the contrary, actually" Lio said. "I actually somewhat got over my social anxiety and I managed to make a friend!"

"Wait, what?" Lola asked. "Did I hear you correctly or did you say that you made a friend?"

"Your ears aren't deceiving you," Lio said proudly. "I actually made a friend. Her name is Kat and we plan on hanging out more in the near future."

"If nothing went wrong at the party then why do you have a black eye?" Leni asked.

"Oh, nothing major" Lio said nonchalantly. "Just had a little run in with those two bullies from Halloween"

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Lana asked.

"I'm fine" Lio insisted. "Heck, Lily packs more of a punch than those losers." Lio then pulled out his phone and saw that he had received a text from Kat. "Now, if you don't mind…" he said as he head upstairs to his room.

When he reached the top of the stairs, Luan smiled at him and said "Good job conquering your fear. I knew you could do it."

"Really? You did?" Lio asked.

"Yep" Luan said. "In fact, Lana, Lucy, and I even made a bet with the others that you would" Luan then head downstairs, saying "Speaking of which, time to pay up, girls!"

"Looks like you weren't the only one who made money off of me tonight" Lio said to Lincoln with a smile.

"Listen, I really wanna apologize for that," Lincoln said. "I'm sorry I mislead you and made you go through with something you didn't wanna do. I know how uncomfortable you are around people and it was wrong of me to exploit that for money. Also, I'm sorry about causing you to get a black eye."

"Sorry, are you kidding me?" Lio replied. "Lincoln, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have met Kat. I wouldn't have made my first real friend. Strange as this may sound, this was the best thing that could've happened to me"

"Really?" Lincoln asked.

"Really," Lio said. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get ready for next week. Kat and I are meeting up to hang out next Saturday"

"Well, Lincoln you did it again" Lincoln said to himself. "I amaze even myself sometimes."

"Oh, and by the way, since I'm the reason you got paid, I think I'm entitled to half of that money" Lio said, holding his hand out.

"Well, I almost got away with it" Lincoln said to the reader.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," Lio said, prompting he and Lincoln to share a laugh before Lio said "But seriously, never drag me along to something like that again."

 **And so, Lio has made his first friend. I'll be exploring Lio and Kat's newfound friendship in future chapters. Hope you enjoyed.**


	4. Stop the Presses

**Stop the Presses**

 **(A/N: Takes place before chapter 3)**

Synopsis: Lucy starts modifying her Lynn's room after a new column in the school newspaper starts giving advice in gothic homemaking. When Lynn starts getting creeped out, she recruits the help of Lincoln Clyde in investigating the column's author and put a stop to it.

After a hard day of practising and working out, Lynn is looking forward to kicking back and relaxing. As she walks into her and Lucy's bedroom, one thing she doesn't expect to see is the rabid crazed face of a gray wolf seemingly lunging at her with its mouth open, revealing razor sharp teeth with dark red stains. Lynn quickly recoils and jumps in horror, only to thankfully find that the wolf isn't actually alive. Lynn cautiously reaches out to touch it, only for Lucy to suddenly snatch it out of her reach.*

Lucy: Please don't touch Bela.

Lynn: Bela? Is that what you call this thing? *points at 'Bela'*

Lucy: He's my taxidermied werewolf. Or at least, he would be if I actually knew anything about taxidermy.

Lynn: So if this thing isn't actually a stuffed werewolf, why does it look so lifelike?

Lucy: Believe it or not, it's actually made mostly of paper mache with some fake fur and fake fangs made from a combination of polymorph plastic and acrylic nails for good measure. It took hours of work and I did my best to make it look realistic, but it was honestly worth it.

Lynn: Well it did give me a scare so I think you accomplished your goal of realism. But what possessed you to make a werewolf in the first place? I thought your thing was vampires and porcelain dolls, not werewolves."

Lucy: Normally yes, but our school's newspaper recently added a column known as "Gothic DIY". It's been giving tips on how to transform your home into the perfect gothic setting.

Lynn: That sounds a bit costly if I'm being honest and besides, couldn't you wait until Halloween before you transformed our room into a creepshow?

Lucy: That's the beauty of it. Not only are the writer's methods advice good for creating a sinister atmosphere all year long, they truly are do it yourself and cost next to nothing. I can finally create my perfect lair and I can do it with stuff you'd find in arts and craft class.

Lynn: Just make sure to keep it confined to _your_ half of the room.

Lucy: Got it.

Lynn's stomach suddenly growls rather loudly*

Lynn *jokingly: I guess your werewolf isn't the only one hungry. Guess I'll head down to the kitchen and grab a snack. Try not to scare me half to death in the future. *turns to leave and head downstairs*

Lucy: Will do.

Lynn *slightly absentminded as she heads down the stairs: Just when I thought Lucy couldn't get any creepier. *scoffs* Gothic D.I.Y.? I wonder who's the weird freaky kid writing that article. *In her absentmindedness, she accidentally bumps into Lio, causing the latter to drop his notepad.* Sorry, bro, I didn't see you there.

Lio *picks up notepad: It's alright. *looks at Lynn* Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.

Lynn: I'm fine. Just that Lucy spooked me with this paper mache werewolf she created. Like, I thought her primary interest was in vampires.

Lio: I see. Speaking of vampires and werewolves, did you know that in some versions of the original vampire lore/mythos, a human bitten by a vampire became a werewolf rather than another vampire.

Lynn: Where did you learn that?

Lio: As an aspiring mangaka, I research all forms of mythology to help me better craft a compelling story. That was simply one of the tidbits of trivia I found during my research. *looks at his watch* Oh, I hate to cut things short, but I've got to go. I promised Lana that I'd help her find this pack of rabbits a safe home.

Lana (from outside): Come on, Lio! Those rabbits aren't going to help themselves. *Lio heads out the door*

Lynn *as she opens the fridge and grabs an apple: Between him Lucy, sometimes I don't know which one is stranger.

Three Days Later*

Lynn is lying on the couch, watching TV with a few of the other sisters (Lola, Lisa, Luna and Lori). Lucy walks through the door, holding a large black pentagram star with a bulging, pale blue eye in the center. This catches the attention of the sisters.*

Lori: What you got there, Lucy?

Lucy: Oh this? This is a piece of wall art I made at school.

Lola: It looks waaaayyyyy freaky.

Lisa: What inspired you to make something like that?

Lucy: It's based on the latest edition of Gothic D.I.Y. It's inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe story

.

Luna: If it's based off the Tell Tale Heart, why isn't it, I dunno, a heart?

Lucy: Creating a heart would be too cliche. The article recommended that we instead make a model based off of the Old Man's wicked eye. *looks at the star and gives a slight smile, taking pride in how well her work turned out* Honestly, I find this to be a lot more unnerving than a typical disembodied heart.

Lynn: You're not actually going to hang that up in our room, are you?

Lucy: Don't worry, I'll keep it on my side of the room. You won't even know it's there.

Lynn: Yeah, but just knowing that that eye will be hanging on the wall… *shivers* that thing is seriously going to kill my mood.

Lucy: I promise, you'll hardly even know that it's there.

Lisa: If it helps ease your concerns, I doubt that Lucy's projects will have that much of an effect on your state of mind.

Lynn: As long as that's her last creation involving this gothic homemaking stuff, I guess I'll be alright.

Lucy: Well, about that… *Pulls out a mask. The mask is made out of clay and has an Aztec-inspired design and depicts a screaming face with its mouth agape in horror. There are red streaks of paint going down the eye sockets that serve to make the mask look like a crying child. The mask is scary enough that it makes the other sisters jump in terror.*

Lola: Man, I'm glad I don't have to sleep in your room.

Lori: Same, I don't know how I'd be able to sleep with something like that watching over me.

Luna: Yeah, not going to lie, I don't envy having to sleep in your room with that thing hanging overhead.

Lynn: *takes a deep breath* Alright. No problem. I'm not going to let this get to me.

Cut to the middle of the night, where Lynn is trying, in vain, to get some sleep. She tosses and turns in bed and sits up to see Lucy's fake werewolf seemingly staring at her. Due to the lack of lighting, it almost feels as if the werewolf is alive and licking its lips hungrily at Lynn, eyeing her as its next meal. This causes Lynn to nearly leap out of her bed in horror before she calms down*

Lynn: Calm down, Lynn. It's not even real.

closes her eyes and tries to get some sleep. She fails and when she opens her eyes, she sees Aztec-esque mask on Lucy's side of the room hanging on the wall. In Lynn's sleepless state, she swears that she can almost hear it screaming in pain. Lynn covers her ears so that she doesn't have to hear it scream. When the 'screaming' dies down, Lynn lets go and tries sleeping again. This time, however, she sees the Pentagram Eye staring at her. Out of all of Lucy's creations, this one is the creepiest to Lynn as even though it clearly is just an inanimate object, the pale blue eye seemingly watches her obsessively. When Lynn looks directly at it, it feels as if the eye is staring into her soul.*

Lynn: *groans* This is going to be a _long_ night.

The Next Morning, Lincoln walks into the kitchen to see a groggy (and grumpy) Lynn drinking a cup of coffee. She has bags under her eyes and her hair is in slight disarray*

Lincoln: Good morning, Lynn!

Lynn (muttering under her breath): What's so good about it?

Lincoln *noticing that something is off: What's wrong with you?

Lynn (defensively): _Me_!? What's wrong with you!? You just come in here and say *mimics Lincoln* "Good morning, Lynn" as if everything is peachy and cheerful, and then you ask what's wrong with me!?

Lincoln: *looks at Lynn as if to say "WTF"*

Lynn: *sighs* Sorry. I didn't exactly get a good night's sleep last night.

Lincoln: Why is that?

Lynn: Your school's newspaper has this new gothic decor column and Lucy's been taking their advice. Of course, that means she's been creating all these creepy crafts. I wouldn't mind so much if she didn't hang them up in our room, creeping me out to the point I can't sleep.

Lincoln: Gothic decor? You mean the Gothic D.I.Y. section.

Lynn: So you know about this? Do you know who writes it?

Lincoln: To answer your first question: yes. It's a relatively new addition to our school's newspaper and only started about a month and a half ago. To answer your second question: yes _and_ no. The author of the article goes by the pseudonym Solido Naso, but nobody knows who they are. Why do you wanna know who's writing it?

Lynn: Because, I want to find whoever's writing the article and make them stop. I love Lucy, but if she keeps up with this gothic homemaking stuff, I feel like I'm going to lose it.

Lincoln: So you're just going to threaten the author to stop. I'm not sure that'll work out for you.

Lynn: Maybe not for me, but perhaps you can convince them to stop on my behalf.

Lincoln: I'm not sure I follow.

Lynn: You can find out who this Solido Naso guy is and ask them not stop. *Lincoln opens his mouth to object, but Lynn quickly adds* Plus, this could be a chance for Ace Savvy One Eyed Jack to solve another mystery. You know, put their detective skills to the test. *Lincoln's eyes light up at the chance to solve another case.*

Lincoln: Well, when you put it like that, I'd be happy to find this mystery author and persuade him to end his article for you. *Lynn smirks at having manipulated Lynn into helping her.*

The scene cuts to the Elementary school, where Lincoln Clyde are walking to the editing room for the school's journalism club.*

Lincoln:Thanks for agreeing to help.

Clyde: Are you kidding me? I wouldn't pass up on an opportunity like this in a million years. All of the goths are wondering who this Solido person really is. If we find out who they are, not only will we further our reputations as ace detectives, but we may just be able to score some cool points from the goths.

Lincoln: All the more incentive we need to crack this case. And what better place to start than here, the editing room? If we're lucky, we may even be able to catch Naso in the act.

The boys open the door to the editing room, where they are immediately greeted by a teacher with auburn hair, wearing a white shirt and black pants.*

Teacher: Hello boys, how can I help you? Are you here to apply for the school's journalism club?

Clyde: Hello, Mrs. Reilly Afraid not, we're actually here to investigate one of your writers.

Mrs. Reilly: Which one?

Lincoln: Solido Naso, the writer of Gothic D.I.Y. Could you tell us who they are?

Mrs. Reilly *shakes her head: I wish I could, but whoever they are, they have quite the obsession with maintaining their anonymity. Signing up for the club is easy enough, you can either apply in person or you write your name on the sign up sheet. No matter which method you choose, you have to submit a sample story for approval before you're officially allowed to be a member. The morning after Solido signed up, we found their story sitting on the table. No one saw who wrote the story or who left it behind.

Lincoln: Well, that's just great. Given the circumstances, there's no evidence that Solido Naso even exists.

Mrs. Reilly: Actually, we do have _one_ piece of proof. We still have Solido's signature from when they signed up. *pulls out a scrap of paper with the name "Solido Naso" written on it in cursive and hands it to Lincoln Clyde.*

Clyde: Looks like we've got our first lead. It's not much, but at least it proves we're not chasing a ghost.

Lincoln: Is it just me or does the handwriting look familiar?

Clyde: What do you mean?

Lincoln: It's just that, I swear I've seen this style of handwriting before.

Clyde: When is the next edition of the paper supposed to come out?

Mrs. Reilly: This Friday. We release our paper biweekly every Tuesday and Friday. We always edit it together on the day prior to the release date. Meaning our Tuesday releases are completed on Monday and our Friday releases are finished on Thursday. All stories must be submitted by those days or they get omitted until the next edition.

Lincoln*looks at the teacher* You say you've never seen Solido's face? How do they submit their column to the paper?

Mrs. Reilly: Usually, the day before we're supposed to edit the paper together, we find Solido's addition already uploaded to the main computer. *points to the desk at the front of the room with a computer on it.* While students can complete their stories independently, they must be uploaded to the main computer in order to be added. Fortunately, every story that's published is timestamped as to when they were uploaded to the computer so we can keep track of every contributor.

Clyde: Is there a set time when Solido submits their stories?

Mrs. Reilly: As a matter of fact, there is. Checking the timestamps, we find that Naso typically uploads their stories between 1 2 PM.

Lincoln: Hmm, today is Wednesday and given what you've told us about them uploading the day before final editing, that means it's likely that they'll be submitting the latest edition of Gothic D.I.Y. today. And since it's only 10:15 right now, that means we've got a couple hours until Naso comes to upload.

Clyde: Sounds like a stakeout is in order. What do you say, Ace?

Lincoln: Sounds like the perfect idea if we wanna catch Naso in the act. *turns to the teacher* Do you think that you can help us out?

Mrs. Reilly: I'd be delighted to. Believe it or not, I'm just as interested in finding out Solido's identity as you are. Their column is incredibly popular, even with the non goths and part of the appeal is the mystery surrounding their identity. If you can find out who they actually are, it would likely be the biggest story ever published in the paper.

Lincoln: Well, we promise you we'll get you the identity of Solido Naso. Ace Savvy One Eyed Jack always solve their case.

Mrs. Reilly: I'll keep the door locked until just before 1 so that you can come back here and wait for them to show up. I'll write a note to your teachers excusing your absence. Good luck.

scene cuts to later that day at 1PM (a clock on the wall shows the time as 1:04 PM to be exact), where Lincoln Clyde are sitting inside the editing room, waiting hidden in the room's closet.*

Lincoln *whispering: Okay, this should be simple enough. All we have to do is stay here and wait until we see someone go into the room. After that, we can confront them and ask them to stop writing the column under the threat of revealing their identity.

Clyde *whispering: But, aren't we going to unveil their identity anyway? Or at least, to Mrs. Reilly?

Lincoln *shaking his head: If they agree to stop writing the column, we can pretend that we're still investigating the case until the end of the year. At the very least, we could convince Mrs. Reilly that keeping Solido Naso's identity a secret would generate more interest in the paper.

Clyde: How do we know that Mrs. Reilly herself isn't Solido Naso? What if she did it just to generate interest in the school paper?

Lincoln: I doubt it. I caught a glimpse of her handwriting and it didn't match Solido's at all. Of course, it's too early to rule her out completely, but I'd be surprised if that turned out to be the case.

Clyde: Well, we've got an hour to find out.

A time lapse goes by, showing Lincoln Clyde staying hidden in the closet, peeking out as they wait for the mysterious Solido Naso to show up. As time ticks by, the boys become very bored just sitting and waiting. Eventually, they hear the door open and peek their heads out of the closet, hoping to see the anonymous writer. Instead, they see Mrs. Reilly returning.*

Mrs. Reilly: Hello boys! Any luck catching Naso?

Lincoln: No. *looks at his watch* It's 2:30 already? We've been here this whole time and no one's come in here.

Mrs. Reilly: That's odd. Normally they'll have uploaded their story by now. *walks over to computer and checks it.* No way.

Clyde: What?

Mrs. Reilly: The next edition of Gothic homemaking, it's right here, plain as day. They've already submitted their story! And the timestamp says it was uploaded at 1:02 PM today!

Lincoln: But that's impossible! We've been here the entire time and we didn't see or hear anyone enter or leave. We would've caught them red handed! There's no way they could've uploaded their story without us knowing.

Clyde: Unless they got in, uploaded the story and left before we got here.

Mrs. Reilly: I guess Solido takes their anonymity very seriously if they're going to these lengths to keep their identity a secret.

Lincoln: I guess this stakeout was a bust, but I'm not ready to give up just yet.

The scene transitions to the Loud House*

Lynn: So, any luck finding who's writing that article?

Lincoln: Well, we've got their signature and we know when they submit their story. Other than that we know nothing. Clyde I tried setting up a stakeout to catch them in the act, but they somehow still got away from us. Also, Lucy may be bringing home something new on Friday; that's when the next edition of Gothic DIY comes out.

Lynn: Darn it! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you two geeks to do this.

Lincoln: Don't worry, I promise you that this'll be the last Gothic Homemaking published.

Leni *walking into the room: What're you guys talking about?

Lynn: Stinkcoln Clyde are supposed to be finding out who's writing this goth decorating article at their school, but they messed up and now Lucy's probably going to bring home some new freaky sculpture.

Leni: You mean like that freaky skeleton figurine she brought home today?

Lynn: Great. The new edition hasn't even come out yet and she's already bringing home something weird. I can already tell that this is going to be a sleepless night.

Lincoln: Like I said: Don't worry. Clyde I are going to find Solido Naso and get them to stop. We promise.

Leni: Solido Naso? Isn't that an Italian name or something? *Both Lincoln Lynn look at Leni, amazed that she said something smart*

Lynn: Leni, how do you know that?

Leni: So, do you remember that Chaz guy I've been talking about? Well, he has a cousin stationed in Italy and he wants to visit her so we've been learning Italian together. I don't know what it means, but I do know that "Solido Naso" is Italian. *Both Lincoln Lynn are stunned silent for a second.*

Lincoln: Looks like Clyde I just got our next lead. This narrows down our search considerably.

Lynn: How so?

Lincoln: There's a cliq at our school who act like your typical mafia. They have the stereotypical accent, dress like greasers, and use random Italian words in their speech even though they're not actually Italian. Given this information, it's possible that Solido Naso is a member of this group. It also explains why they'd be obsessed with keeping their identity a secret. None of the mobsters would wanna be outed as a secret goth. I'm positive we've solved the case now.

Lio *coming out of the kitchen with two apples in his hand: Hey guys, what're you talking about?

Lincoln: I think we may have just cracked the case regarding Solido Naso's identity.

Lio: Oh. Nice!

Clyde: Why do you have two apples in your hand?

Lio: Oh, this? I didn't get a chance to eat lunch today so I'm pretty hungry. Anyway, good luck in your search. *leaves*

Scene cuts the elementary school's basement, where a group of four are hanging out, talking amongst themselves. True to Lincoln's description, they have thick (obviously) fake Italian accents and are all dressed like movie mobsters. One of them is average size with black hair, another has brown hair, the third has red hair and the fourth is a large boy with black hair..*

Kid #1 (black hair): So then, I told the bambino to hand over his lunch money.

Kid #2 (brunette): What happened next, Anthony?

Kid #3 (redhead): Yeah Boss, I gotta know how it ends.

Anthony: That's when the teacher comes over and interrupts me. So I turn to the teacher and say- *pauses in his story when Lincoln Clyde enter the basement* Hey, who are these two mammoni? Mickey, see what they want, will ya?

Mickey (big guy): You two best scram now otherwise you the floor are going to be getting real intimate. Capisce?

Clyde: We'll be outta your hair in a minute, we just wanna ask a few questions.

Anthony: Well you don't look like the law so that's bought you a minute now explain why you're here.

Lincoln: We're looking for Solido Naso and our search has led us here.

Anthony: Solido Naso?! That goth creep! Alright, you've bought yourself some more time. If I could get my hands on that Naso guy, why I'd… *grunts angrily* The nerve of that guy, making a mockery out of us Italians!

Kid #2: But boss, we aren't actually Italian. *Anthony slaps him on the back of the head*

Anthony: Shut up, you mook! *addresses Lincoln Clyde* Back to you two, you say your search for Solido has led you here? For your sake, I hope you're not saying what I think you're saying.

Lincoln: We have reason to believe that Solido Naso is amongst your ranks. After all, you four are the only ones in the school who speak Italian.

Anthony: I can't believe what I'm hearing! Mickey, take care of these clowns.

Clyde *shaking in fear as Mickey approaches them while pounding his fist: Um… Lincoln?

Lincoln *thinking quick: Wait! There's no need to beat us up. We're on your side. We're trying to prove your innocence. All we need are you signatures to confirm you're not the

Solido Naso. After all, think about what'll happen if the rest of the school finds out Solido is an Italian name. They'll instantly think it's one of you guys. We're trying to prove that's not the case.

Anthony: *thinks about it for a second before calling off Mickey* Let em' go, Mickey. *Lincoln Clyde breathe a sigh of relief* Alright, you've bought yourself another two minutes. We'll give you our signatures, but I swear you better not be pulling any funny business.

Clyde *handing the four boys a piece of paper: Just sign your names right here and we'll be on our way. *The four "mobsters" each write their signature on the paper and give it back to Lincoln to look over.* Well, Ace, what does it look like?

Lincoln: None of them are a match. Their handwriting doesn't look anything like Solido's. Safe to say, these aren't the guys we're looking for,

Kid #3: Molto bene! What did we tell ya? There's no way any of us would be caught dead doing that weird goth stuff!

Anthony: Now that you boys have got the answer to your question, why don't you say "Arrivederci" and get out of here?

Transition to the Loud House, where Lynn is watching TV in the living room when Lincoln Clyde enter the house, looking dejected and disappointed. Lynn can instantly tell that their latest attempt at solving the mystery has failed.*

Lynn: Let me guess, you still don't know who Naso is, do you?

Lincoln: I just don't get it! It doesn't make any sense! Other than a signature, we have no sign that they're even real!

Clyde: I still think it's Mrs. Reilly. Think about it: she's the only one with the keys to the editing room, meaning she can access it at any time. She could've uploaded the story before we staked out the room and played dumb. Not to mention that she has all the motive: boost the paper's readership by way of introducing a mysterious character who no one knows exist and then make a story out of the identity of this unknown writer. And now that I think about it: she seemed a bit _too_ eager to help us solve the case. That's because she _knows_ we'll never find out who Solido Naso is. She can keep the mystery going for as long as she wants to get students to keep reading.

Lincoln: You know, now that I think about it, even the signature could've been a false piece of evidence meant to throw us off her trail. After all, why would she keep the random signature of some student she doesn't know? *looks at the signature again* However, I still can't shake the feeling that I've seen this handwriting somewhere before.

Lynn: We can worry about how this Mrs. Reilly faked the signature later. Right now, I'm going to go give her a piece of my mind and get her to shut down this goth article! *storms out the door and heads for the Elementary school with Lincoln Clyde following behind her.*

Transition back to the Editing room, where Mrs. Reilly is sitting at the computer when Lynn suddenly kicks in the door.*

Mrs. Reilly: Goodness gracious, what's going on!?

Lynn: Alright, Reilly, I'm just going to make this real simple. We figured out your little game!

Reilly: What are you talking about?

Lincoln: Don't play dumb. We know that you're the one who's actually behind the Solido Naso article!

Reilly: What Earth could give you such a ridiculous idea?

Clyde: You're the only one with around the clock access to the main editing computer, meaning you could've uploaded the story at any time.

Lincoln: You also have the most to gain from the mystery of Naso's identity. All of the goths are wondering who they are and buzz is spreading to the other student groups as well. You can capitalize off the interest in all of this and boost readership.

Mrs. Reilly: Look, I know this looks suspicious but I...

Lynn: Listen, I don't care what your reasonings are for posing as a made up student; I just want you to stop putting out the gothic homemaking section!

Mrs. Reilly: But-

Lynn: My little sister has been making these freaky figurines that've been keeping me from sleeping! If she makes one more sculpture I'm going to-

Mrs. Reilly: But-

Lynn: No buts! Either cancel the column or-

Mrs. Reilly: Just let me explain! *Lynn becomes quiet and Reilly explains* I know that this all looks suspicious, but I _**am not**_ Solido Naso.

Lynn: Yeah right! If you're not, then who is?

Reilly: I don't know. Really, I don't. As I told these two gentlemen, I'm just as interested in finding out who they are as you are. I've been waiting for two weeks now to see if they slip up and leave behind another clue, but they're really efficient when it comes to not leaving a trace.

Clyde: How do we know we can trust you?

Lynn: We can't! She's lying! Can't you see that?

Lincoln: I thought something like this might come up so I brought these. *Pulls out Lisa's lie detecting glasses*

Lynn: I thought we destroyed those.

Lincoln: We did, but Lisa made a second pair. Something about selling them to the CIA. *puts on the glasses and asks Mrs. Reilly* Are you Solido Naso?

Reilly: No, I am not. *The glasses determine that she is telling the truth.*

Clyde: Do you know the true identity of Solido Naso?

Reilly: No. *The glasses determine that she is telling the truth.*

Lynn: Great, just great. I thought we had finally found them, it turns out to be another dead end.

Lincoln: What are we going to do now?

Lynn: *sighs* Come on, let's go home.

Scene cuts back to the Loud House, where Lynn Lincoln sit disappointed that they haven't been able to crack the case.*

Luan *noticing their downer expressions: What's wrong with you two? Why the long faces?

Lynn: We still haven't been able to find out who the writer of the Gothic D.I.Y. column is.

Lincoln: All we've got is their name and a signature, but aside from that we know nothing about them. We've followed every lead and all of them have turned out to be a dead end. Clyde I even set up a stakeout to catch them in the act, but they still somehow managed to evade us.

Luan: Well, what's the name of the author?

Lynn: Solido Naso. *Luan gives Lincoln Lynn a strange look before she starts giggling, causing Lynn to get angry* What's so funny?

Luan: I think I may have just solved your mystery.

Lincoln: Explain.

Luan: The name "Solido Naso" is the alias of the main antagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind.

Lincoln *as a lightbulb goes off in his head: There's only one person I know who loves gothic horror and JoJo enough to make his alias a reference to it…

Lynn Lincoln (simultaneously as they reach the same conclusion): Lio! *start running upstairs to Lincoln Lio's room*

Lynn: I don't know how I didn't see it sooner, the clues were right in front of us. From the moment he mentioned that trivia about werewolves and vampires, I should've suspected him. Also, when I bumped into him and made him drop his notepad, I should've paid more attention to it. At the time, I just assumed he was writing his silly little comics in it. I didn't think he was writing for the school newspaper.

Lincoln: It also explains why Solido's signature looked familiar to me. How could I _not_ recognize my own twin's handwriting? And then the other day when Lio said that he didn't get a chance to eat lunch; well of course he didn't because he was busy uploading his column to the editing room computer before Clyde I got the chance to scope out the room.

Lynn: Now that I think about it, I don't recall either of us mentioning to him who "Solido Naso" was or why we were looking for them in the first place. Him wishing us luck rather than inquiring about who we were talking about should've been another giveaway. *The two open the door to Lincoln Lio's room, startling Lio, who is writing in his notepad. Lynn then points aggressively at Lio* You!

Lio: Whoa! What's all this about?

Lynn: Drop the act! We know you're the one behind the Gothic D.I.Y. column!

Lio: What are you talking about?

Lincoln *picking up Lio's notepad and comparing the writing in it to Solido's signature: Yep. There's no mistaking it. You're definitely Solido Naso. And from the looks of it, you're already writing your next story.

Lio *sighs as he admits to being discovered: I suppose that if I was going to be found out, it's better that I was found out by my own family than some random stranger. How did you figure it out?

Lincoln: Your close sibling bond with Luan proved to be your undoing as she's the one who pointed that you were using a JoJo reference as your pseudonym. That was the biggest clue. Also, the fact that you had to physically sign up means you left behind a sample of your handwriting. If it wasn't for that little tidbit of information, we might have never found you out.

Lynn: Now let's cut to the chase: I want you to stop writing that column now.

Lio: Yeah, about that, I can't exactly do that.

Lynn: Oh, you _will_ stop, otherwise I'll tell your whole school who you are and you'll have to deal with being the talk of the classroom.

Lio: Listen, I don't know what your issue with the article is, but I'm doing it for a very important reason. I can't just stop it right now.

Lynn: My issue with the article is that I haven't been able to get a good sleep because Lucy's been following your decorating advice and making all these freaky things! I'm telling you to cut it out now or else I'll…

Lio: Lucy's the reason I've been writing the Gothic D.I.Y. series in the first place.

Lincoln: What do you mean by that?

Lio: Allow me to elucidate ya. It all started about two months ago… *scene segues into a flashback.*

 _Flashback:_

 _*Lio is coming back from the manga store when he finds Lucy lying outside on the ground.*_

 _Lio: Lucy? What's wrong? Why are you out here lying on the ground?_

 _Lucy:... Can I ask you a question?_

 _Lio: Sure. What's on your mind?_

 _Lucy: Do you think I'm… weird, for being into the occult?_

 _Lio: Not at all, why do you ask?_

 _Lucy: It's just that the school's newspaper ran an article on the weirdest groups in the school and goths came in at number one. The paper has all kinds of articles that appeal to every group from the athletes to the nerds to even the mafia wannabes. All except for the goths. Apparently we're too weird and depressing to be the focus of anything. Sigh. Maybe they're right. Maybe we are just a bunch of creepy freaks. *gets up and heads inside the house*_

Lio (narrating over the rest of the flashback): That gave me an idea that I could do something to make Lucy feel more accepted. So early one morning I went to the school's journalism club and signed up for the paper. Let me tell you, it was not easy doing that without being seen. Immediately after that, I went to the library to work on my first story and submitted it the next day. Soon after I became an official member of the club, Gothic D.I.Y. became more popular than I anticipated and the mystery surrounding my identity became its own story. Safe to say my initial mission was accomplished.

Lincoln: How did you come up with the idea of gothic decor?

Lio: Lincoln, my favorite musician is Aurelio Voltaire.

Lincoln: Oh, yeah, that's right.

Lynn: But why did you sign up under a fake name? And why go through all the trouble to remain anonymous?

Lio: Because… you know I hate bringing attention of any type to myself. Not to mention my shyness around others. I just wouldn't be able to handle the attention if my secret got out without suffering a panic attack. My goal was to make Lucy not feel like a freak, not to gain recognition. *sighs as he turns to Lynn* For that reason, I'm going to continue with the article. If it means that the cat will be let out of the proverbial bag, then so be it.

Lucy: That won't be necessary *Lincoln, Lynn, and Lio all jump in fright upon being surprised by Lucy.*

Lynn: Okay, seriously! How do you do that?

Lucy *ignoring Lynn as she addresses Lio: The fact you would go to such lengths to help make me feel normal, even if it meant risking getting exposed, is one of the kindest things anyone has done for me. *hugs Lio and she even cracks a (very small) smile* Thank you for that. *Lucy then addresses Lynn* Sorry that I was freaking you out with all the things I was creating. I didn't think that they'd creep you out so much. I can get rid of it if you want to.

Lynn: You don't have to do that. Maybe I overreacted to everything. If that's what makes you feel normal then go ahead, just maybe don't put them in places where it looks like they're watching me.

Lucy: Deal. *She Lynn hug*

Lincoln: And once again, another case closed thanks to the wonderful deduction skills of Ace Savvy.

Lio *smirking: You literally said you wouldn't have been able to solve the mystery if it wasn't for Luan.

Lincoln *with a smirk of his own: Careful, Lio. If I were you, I wouldn't taunt one of the three people capable of revealing your secret. *Lio gulps and Lincoln walks off*

Lio: (beat) Wait a second, Linc! You wouldn't actually sell out your own brother like that, would you? *chases after him*

Lincoln: I don't know, maybe if you buy me tickets to the upcoming Ace Savvy movie, I'll keep quiet.

Lynn: You know, Luc, as long as our brothers are around, I don't think you have to worry about being a freak.

Lucy: I think you're right.

Lucy Lynn share a laugh as the episode irises out*

END.

 **I've made it a tradition to post chapters on my birthday. Normally, it's my DP fic God Save the Queen, but I kinda hit a bump with that so I decided to upload my Loud House fic instead. Okay, so I got this idea during a Discord conversation with a friend where we were talking about our OCs. I got this idea for an episode and decided to write this chapter in script form as if it were an actual episode. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	5. To Tell The Tooth

It's a safe wager that nobody likes going to the dentist. Sitting in a waiting room for sometimes hours on end, getting called to the back and taking that long horrifying walk to the dentist's chair, having your gums poked and prodded by sharp needles and tools all while praying that you wouldn't require a root canal. And that didn't even take into account the possibility of having to have teeth removed. So suffice to say, neither Lincoln or Lio were looking forward to their upcoming dentist's appointment. Lincoln was looking even less forward to the appointment when Luan volunteered to tag along. That's not to say that Lincoln didn't love his sister, it's just that whenever any of her younger siblings had a trip to the dentist she would always tag along in an attempt to ease their fears both before and after they got in the chair through the use of humor. It wasn't that Lincoln didn't appreciate the effort, it's just that Luan's comedy was very hit or miss and oftentimes her jokes annoyed him rather than took the stress away. His twin, Lio was the exact opposite. Some might say he was easily amused, but he found great joy in his sister's jokes, and seeing as the young artist was very fearful of people outside his family (especially those who would be performing procedures on his mouth), he'd take any distraction he could get from what he saw as inevitable doom.

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Lio asked the siblings' mom as she drove them to the dentist. "And for that matter, aren't you a dentist? Why can't you just do this for us at home?"

"Because sweetie, there are some things I'm not prepared for," Rita said, "for example, I don't think I'd be able to bring myself to have to perform a root canal or pull the teeth of one of my own kids."

"Then why can't we just call this off altogether?" Lio asked.

"Because dental care is very important," Rita pointed out, "you don't wanna lose all your teeth, do you?"

"I guess not," Lio said, sulking in his seat.

"You're not thinking about trying to run away to Toronto again, are you?" Lincoln sarcastically asked his twin.

"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous," Lio scoffed. "I'd clearly try escaping to Nova Scotia where no one can find me…"

"Hey, do you remember the last time we went to the dentist?" Lincoln reminded him. "The time where you screamed like a little girl when the dentist pulled out that drill?"

"Oh, shut up Lincoln!" Lio replied. "The only reason you didn't scream is because you passed out!"

"Yeah, from laughing too hard at you," Lincoln retorted.

"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed. "I still just wanna go home."

"Sorry Lio, I know the tooth hurts, but going to the dentist is just a part of life," Luan joked, giggling and asking "Get it?"

"Oh brother," Lincoln sighed, rolling his eyes as Lio let out a laugh.

"Come on Linc, you don't have to mouth off to me," Luan joked. "I mean, I'm just trying to lighten the mood. What if you have to get braces like me?"

"If that's the case, he better brace himself," Lio joked.

"Oh my god, now you've got him started," Lincoln groaned.

"Well forgive me for trying to have a sense of humor as I'm sent to death row," Lio said.

"You're acting like you're the only one who's going into this," Lincoln said, "newsflash Lio, I'm seeing the dentist too and I'm just as scared."

"Alright kids, calm down," Rita scolded them. "I promise that you two have nothing to worry about, this is just a routine checkup and cleaning, you're going to be just fine."

"Yeah, you're going into this expecting a disaster but the molar opposite is probably what'll happen," Luan joked.

"I sure hope so," Lio said, letting out a nervous laugh as Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Who knows, maybe they'll even give me a little plaque for having clean teeth."

"Good one," Luan laughed as Lincoln put in his earphones and began listening to music to drown out his siblings before they could start a pun war.

Soon, the car pulled into the dentist's office and the four of them were sitting in the waiting room, with Lincoln and Lio anxiously waiting. Normally, at a time like this, Lio would be scribbling and drawing in his notebook, but in his fright he had forgotten his notebook at home. Even if he had brought along his notebook, Lio would probably be shaking too hard in his seat to draw properly. Noticing this, Luan offered Lio her hand for him to hold so that he wouldn't be as nervous.

"You can hold my hand if you like," She offered, "just squeeze my hand if you get-,"

"Wait, Luan, I wouldn't do that if I were-," Lincoln said at the same time, neither sibling being able to complete their sentence before Lio gripped on Luan's hand with an iron clad death grip.

"Scared…" Luan squeaked, a single tear escaping her eye. She was surprised that her brother had such a strong grip. Still, that didn't stop her from making a joke. "I've gotta hand it to you, little brother, you're stronger than I thought."

"I tried to warn you," Lincoln said.

"Sorry," Lio apologized, easing up on his grip considerably. "I just tend to lose control over my strength when I get really scared."

Luan noticed that Lincoln's knees were shaking and that despite his attempts at appearing brave, Lincoln truly was just as scared his twin brother was. With a sigh and chuckle, Luan offered Lincoln her other hand for him to hold, despite the fact that there was a very real chance he could have a harsh grip as well. Insistent on keeping his bravado, Lincoln declined.

"I'm fine," He said, his knees still trembling, "like Mom said, it's just a routine checkup. We've got nothing to worry about at all."

"Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Luan asked, chuckling and saying "It looks like your knees are weak and your arms are heavy."

"Hmpf!" Lincoln huffed. "I'm not afraid at all!"

"Teach me your ways, wiser brother," Lio said before the door opened and the receptionist walked out, causing Lio to instinctively clench Luan's hand super tight. Luan once again winced from the pain as it felt like her hand was being crushed.

"Lincoln and Lio Loud?" The receptionist asked. "The doctor will see you now."

Rita took a moment to comfort her scared sons, telling "Everything is going to be alright, I promise that the doctor isn't going to hurt you. We'll be right here, waiting for you."

Lincoln and Lio got up from their seats and slowly walked towards the door. Funnily enough, Lio was still holding on Luan's hand with his ironclad grip without even realizing it, obliviously dragging the comedienne along until Rita spoke up.

"Lio, let go of your sister's hand," Rita told him.

"Sorry," Lio sheepishly apologized, letting go of Luan's hand. With a gulp, he followed behind his brother into the dentist's office.

Thirty minutes passed before Lincoln finally emerged from his appointment. The young boy looked rather content and unimpressed, having a bored expression on his face. He pulled a piece of gum out of his pocket and began chewing as he walked back over to his mom. Meanwhile, Lio was nowhere to be seen. That came off as rather strange, but Rita just figured he was probably still having his teeth cleaned. That's when the receptionist came back into the waiting room and gestured to Rita.

"Are you the boys' mother?" The receptionist asked her.

"Yes," Rita answered. "Yes I am."

"Well you'll be happy to hear that your sons' have no cavities and have been doing a very good job at keeping their teeth clean," The Receptionist told her.

"That's very good news," Rita said.

"However, during their routine check up, we found that your son Lio is in dire need of having his wisdom teeth pulled," The receptionist informed her.

"I see," Rita said. "I'm guessing that that's what's holding him up right now?"

"Correct," The receptionist replied. "Right now, he's currently being administered laughing gas, but we don't think it should take any longer than two hours for the doctor to do his work."

"Alright," Rita said, "thank you for giving us a heads up"

"No problem," The receptionist said before returning to the front desk.

"So did Lio scream again?" Luan asked Lincoln.

"Not this time," Lincoln said.

"Hmm, I hope he didn't get his fillings hurt," Luan joked, followed by an obligatory cackle and "Get it?"

Lincoln sighed and sat back in his seat, pulling out his phone and looking up some videos on YouTube. Truthfully, he was thankful that he dodged a bullet in the fact that he didn't need to have his own wisdom teeth pulled out. He knew the day would probably come where he did have to have his own wisdom teeth removed, but for right now he was just counting his blessings. Just as the receptionist said, it didn't take more than two hours for Lio to have his wisdom teeth pulled, with the young artist emerging from the back a little under an hour and a half later. Lio noticeably looked out of it and as to be expected, his cheek was a little puffy, but other than that he appeared just fine. The dentist followed behind him shortly afterwards and had a few words with Rita.

"As a fellow dentist, I'm sure you're aware that it can take anywhere from two to three days for the swelling and discomfort to go away," The dentist said to her.

"Yes, I'm very much aware," Rita said. "I also know that it might take some time for the effects of the laughing gas to wear off so he may be a bit delirious."

"That's correct," The dentist said, "however, he should fall asleep in a bit and be just fine afterwards."

"I'll keep that in mind," Rita said as an absentminded Lio stared blankly at his hands.

"Are you okay, bro?" Lincoln asked his brother.

"Is this real?" Lio asked. "Do I actually have hands of my own? When did I grow these?"

"You've always had hands," Lincoln pointed out and Lio's face lit up as if he'd been given the requiem arrow.

"Really!? I have!?" Lio asked excitedly. "I can grab stuff now!"

"There's something different about you Lio, but I can't put my finger on it," Luan said, giggling and asking "Get it?"

"No," Lio said bluntly, scratching his head. "Wait, do I have hair? Oh my god, I have hair!"

"Oh, this is going to be hilarious," Lincoln said as he watched his brother tussle with his hair until it was no longer neatly combed back.

"Thanks again for everything," Rita thanked the dentist before heading towards the door. "Come on kids, let's go."

As Rita, Lincoln, and Luan walked out the door, Lio was back to staring at his hands, prompting Luan to take a risk and grab him by his hand to drag him with them.

"Come on, little brother," Luan said, pulling him along.

"Wow, your hands are soft," Lio said, holding, caressing and examining Luan's hand like they were a prized diamond. "Is this why Kira killed so many women?"

"I really hope you aren't planning anything underhanded," Luan joked, nervously giggling as they got in the car.

"What are you doing!?" Lio asked, rather panicky as Luan helped him put on his seat belt. "Why are you trying to tie me up!?"

"I'm not trying to tie you up," Luan explained as Lincoln started filming. "I'm just putting your seatbelt on."

"Oh," Lio muttered.

Eventually the family got back on the road and headed back to the house with Lio being funnily oblivious and loopy.

"So, how'd it go?" Lincoln asked, still filming his brother.

"I… I didn't feel anything," Lio said.

"Good," Rita said before noticing in the rear view mirror that Lio was attempting to put his hand in his mouth. "Ah, Ah, Ah, don't do that."

"Huh, why not?" Lio asked.

"Because you're going to mess up your stitches," Rita explained.

"But it looks so tasty," Lio said, moving his hand towards his mouth again.

"Don't do that!" Rita said firmly.

"Uuuuuugh!" Lio whined before looking down at his feet and doing a Joseph Joestar impression. "OH MY GOD!"

"What?" Luan and Lincoln asked.

"What are these things at the bottom of my legs?" Lio asked in amazement.

"Those are your feet," Lincoln explained.

"Why are they green?" Lio asked.

"Because you're wearing sneakers on top of them," Lincoln said. "Those aren't your actual feet?"

"They aren't?" Lio asked before pulling off his left sneaker. "Oh my DIO, they're removable!"

"That's just your sneaker," Luan told him. "No offense, but I don't think you could ever be a gumshoe detective."

"Can I take this one off too?" Lio asked before pulling off his right sneaker, leaving him in just his socks. He then grabbed his feet and was astonished by how soft his socks were. "Squeeeeeee! They feel like a carpet!" Lio tugged a little too hard and accidentally pulled his socks off, revealing something else that surprised him.

"Huuuuuuh!?" He gasped before he grabbed and shook both Lincoln and Luan. "Nii-san! Onee-chan!! Look! I've got tiny hands at the bottom of my legs!"

"Those are your feet, Lio," Luan told him as Lincoln continued filming, getting more enjoyment out of this than he should've been. "Everyone has them."

"They do?" Asked Lio before asking Luan. "Do you have them?"

"Well something strange would be afoot if I didn't," Luan joked with a laugh before taking off her own shoes and socks to show Lio her feet. "See?"

"Double shock!" Lio exclaimed.

"Maybe you should check what you have in your pan-," Lincoln suggested before Rita scolded him.

"Lincoln!" Rita admonished him.

"Just kidding," Lincoln nervously giggled as he continued filming. "You know Lio, it's a good thing you have such good siblings to help you figure this stuff out, otherwise you'd have nobody."

"I don't need anyone else," Lio said. "I have Star Platinum!"

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"Oops, that was the wrong line, lemme try that again," Lio said. "I don't need anyone else, I have Uroboros!"

"Wesker?" Lincoln asked.

"No, Yoshikage Kira!" Lio replied, putting his hand to Lincoln's face before pulling it back. "キラクイーン第1のばくだん屋! Switch On!" He said before mimicking the motion of pressing a buzzer.

"Lio, honey, are you still feeling okay?" Rita asked him.

"YES! I AM!" Lio replied, complete with an Avdol finger point.

"Yare yare dawa," Luan said, borrowing Lio's catchphrase as she affectionately patted Lio on the head.

"Meow!" Lio said, sticking his tongue out in a catboy like fashion and even purring.

"If only I had brought along a ball of yarn," Lincoln quipped.

"Do you really think that I, Lio, would be foolish enough to fall for your ploy?" Lio scoffed.

"Oh great, now he's talking like DIO," Lincoln said.

"Who's DIO?" Rita asked. "Do you mean the rocker?"

"No, DIO's the main antagonist of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," Luan explained, "which just happens to be Lio's favorite manga/anime."

"このリオラウドに「運」渡し味方してくれてるつ!" Lio declared.

"English please?" Lincoln remarked.

"Luck has sided with Lio Loud!" Lio said triumphantly.

"Have you noticed that Lio gets a lot hammier and lets loose a lot more when he's under the effects of anesthesia?" Luan asked Lincoln.

"I wonder if we should maybe try getting him to talk to unfamiliars," Lincoln remarked, causing Lio to glare at him and hiss like a cat. "I'll take that as a no."

"You think you can just throw me to the wolves like that?" Lio asked. "くそくらえ!"

"What are you talking about?" Lincoln asked.

"Let me tell you something about this guy right here!" Lio said, still in a state of delirium. "One day, I was watching him play Smash Ultimate for the channel. We're both having a good time of brotherly bonding, I'm laughing. Lincoln looks to me and asks "This is the first time you've laughed in a long time, isn't it?" The freaking nerve of this guy! Apparently, I can't have a good time unless Lincoln's here! Everything I laugh at is empty and hollow unless Lincoln's here!"

"Ladies Gentlemen, Lio Loud has left the building!" Luan laughed.

"Where are you going with this?" Lincoln asked, stifling his laughter.

Lio looked confused and looked around for a second before saying "I don't know, where was I going with this? What was I saying?"

"Hang in there, younger twin," Lincoln told him. "We're almost home."

"このリオラウドにわ夢がある" Lio said. "この完全と無敵リオラウド世界を征服する!" Lio said before letting out a maniacal laugh.

"Man, I wish we had subtitles," Luan joked.

"I, Lio Loud, have a dream!" Lio said in English. "The world will be conquered by the perfect and invincible Lio Loud!"

"Getting a little full of yourself, aren't you champ?" Luan teased.

"Me, the Great Lio Loud, getting full of himself!?" Lio scoffed. "Ha! Don't make me laugh!"

"So you think you're invincible, huh?" Luan asked with a smirk.

"Of course I'm invinci-," Lio said before Luan pretended to take his nose.

"Hey Lio, got your nose!" Luan teased.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Lio screamed, freaking out as if he actually lost his nose, causing Lincoln to almost lose his mind laughing as he kept his phone focused on Lio. "Moooooooooom! Luan took my nose! Make her give it back!"

"Luan, stop messing with your brother," Rita scolded her. "You know he gets antsy when he's under the effects of anesthesia."

"Alright mom, I nose it's serious business when it comes to him," Luan laughed, pretending to put Lio's nose back on his face.

"Yeah, more like he starts spouting more JoJo memes than usual and acts like my sisters when they're on their chocolate fix," Lincoln quipped before Lio slid over next to him and slowly licked his cheek, much to Lincoln's disgust and exasperation.

"This taste… is that of a liar, Lincoln Loud!" Lio proclaimed before the medicine fully kicked in and he spontaneously fell unconscious, leaning his head onto Lincoln's shoulder.

"Finally," Lincoln said with a laugh.

"He's going to be so confused when he wakes up," Luan said, putting Lio's shoes back on as he leaned harder into Lincoln's shoulder.

"I'm thinking about actually putting this up on the channel," Lincoln remarked.

"Lincoln, remember what I told you about asking permission…" Luan reminded him.

"I know, I know, I'll ask him first," Lincoln said.

"Speaking of which, can I get your permission to post this?" Luan asked.

"Post what exactly?" Lincoln asked, a split second before Luan took a picture of Lio sleeping on his shoulder.

"Sorry Linc, but this was just too cute to pass up," Luan said. "I'm probably going to post this on my Twitter."

"Well you've got my blessing," Lincoln told her.

A few minutes later, the four of them had finally made it back to the Loud House with Lio having woken up, but still being in a state of confusion and delirium. Nonetheless, he was still aware enough to consent to a picture of him and Luan both wearing a large purple shirt that read "I went to the Royal Woods dentist and all I got was my teeth taken out". Due to his state of confusion, he had a blank expression on his face as Luan snapped the picture. Luan waited until Lio was once again fully aware and conscious before asking permission to post both that picture and the one of him sleeping on Lincoln's shoulder to her social media with the tweet reading "Went with my little brothers to the dentist and this is the aftermath. Guess the tooth really does hurt. #APunADay #wisdomteeth"

Feeling rather good natured about the whole thing, Lio later allowed Lincoln to post the video of him on the brothers' shared channel as well. What the otaku wasn't expecting was for the video to amass over 15 million views in less than 24 hours, something that surprised him when he heard about it the next day.

"Hey Lio, check it out, you've gone viral," Luan told him.

"Come again?" Lio asked before walking over to the computer, where the rest of his siblings were gathered around.

"Yep," Lincoln said. "15 million views in less than a day, can you believe it?"

"Oh my DIO…" Lio muttered before nearly fainting.

"You okay, bro?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Lio said, "just that I wasn't expecting that kind of traffic for the video."

"So how are you going to deal with essentially becoming a meme?" Lori asked.

"I'm going to do what I always do," Lio said, "stay in my room and not come out again until either this whole thing blows over or summer break ends, whichever comes first."

"Hey Lio?" Lola said.

"Yeah?" Lio asked before Lola reached up and pretended to grab his nose.

"Got your nose!" Lola teased.

Lio sighed and smiled, asking "You guys aren't going to let me live this one down for a long time, are you?"

"That's what siblings are for," Lynn told him.

"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed with a huge smile. "I suppose I wouldn't have it any other way."

The siblings shared a laugh before going back to their hobbies. Funny how a trip to the dentist could lead to shared moments of humor.


	6. Enemy

(A/N: First half takes place at the same time as Out on a Limo)

If there was one thing Chandler McCann loved doing, it was pushing around his weight and using his popularity to get away with whatever he wanted. Whether that meant pushing around and picking on younger students, flirting with random girls or stirring up trouble for a quick laugh, Chandler loved pushing the limit to see how much he could get away with. And boy, could he get away with a lot. Being the popular kid with parents on the school board sure had its perks. Sometimes he did it just to show off to his friends and bolster just how cool he was. To some students it was a mystery as to why Chandler was so popular when he was such a massive prick, but Chandler would just dismiss them as being haters. Naturally, when you can act like an ass and still have a cult following, you tend to develop an entitled attitude and that you deserve everything your heart desires. And when you're denied whatever thing you desire, you tend not to react pretty poorly.

On this particular day, Chandler was fuming at having lost at a contest. How dare that dweeb, Lincoln win that limo ride instead of him. Was he really so poor that he could eat his own body weight in fancy mustard? Who did he think he was? Did he intentionally do this to one up him? To make Chandler look bad after he'd already promised Cristina and Girl Jordan that they'd be the first ones he invited to ride in the limo with him? Just so he could probably take his circus gang circle of freak sisters out for a ride. After the twerp had the nerve to ruin his birthday party by refusing to make his sister give him special treatment at that pizzeria? Lincoln would pay for this. The only question was how would he do so? That's when Chandler remembered that Lincoln had recently been fraternizing with this girl named Ronnie Anne, some tough girl who Chandler had teased in the past after she publicly rejected him in front of the school. What Chandler considered ironic was that initially Ronnie Anne had been picking on Lincoln, part of what made Chandler think she was cool. The way she humiliated him the way he did only drew Chandler's ire and as he plotted his revenge, he figured out a way to knock out two birds with one stone.

It was blatantly obvious that Ronnie Anne had some feelings for Lincoln and if Lincoln was smart, he'd reciprocate those feelings. Not like the dork would ever get anyone's attention. Normally, Chandler would have driven a wedge between the two, but as it was blatantly obvious that Ronnie Anne couldn't stand a jerk like him (nor would she be gullible enough to fall for his attempts at charming her). Thus, another approach was in order. If he couldn't turn Ronnie Anne against Lincoln using his traditional methods, then perhaps he could make them the laughing stock of the school. Now, everyone loved a good rumor, it was the perfect way to spark up conversation and get a few laughs out of everyone. Well, everyone except the person that the rumor was about, but it wasn't Chandler's fault if they couldn't take a joke, and what a glorious joke it was going to be. Of course, in order to spread the rumor, Chandler needed a gullible patsy who would believe anything he said and would be willing to spread it. There was always his friends Trent and Jack, but those two were currently in after school detention for stealing some first grader's lunch money.

Chandler didn't have to look very far before he found his unwitting pawn in the form of a kid named Mikey. Mikey was a good kid at heart, but he wanted so desperately to be popular and was a little dim witted. If he thought he knew something that would garner him attention, he wouldn't hesitate to tell everyone he knew. That not only made him the perfect pawn in Chandler's game, but if anyone suspected a thing, Chandler could just deflect suspicion back to Mikey so that he'd get off scot free again. With his plan on mind and a particularly vicious and nasty rumor thought up in his head, Chandler wasted no time in approaching Mikey and starting a conversation as if they were old pals.

"Mikey, how's it hanging buddy?" Chandler greeted him, wrapping his arm around the boy.

"Chandler McCann, what can I do for you?" Mikey asked, offering up a smile.

"Nothing really," Chandler lied before asking "Hey, did you hear about that limo ride contest?"

"Yeah, it sounds like it'd be a helluva lot of fun," Mikey said. "Congrats on winning the contest, I'm sure you're going to be riding around like a true celebrity. Have you decided which girl you wanna take with you?"

"I was gonna take a couple lucky gals," Chandler said, "but I didn't win."

"What? You lost?" Mikey asked and if Chandler didn't know him, he would've assumed that Mikey was rubbing it in his face.

"Yeah, it really sucks," Chandler said, kicking a pebble.

"But who could've beaten you?" Mikey asked.

"You know that Lincoln kid?" Chandler asked.

"You mean the one with all those sisters?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, him," Chandler replied. "I don't know how he did it, but he won, although I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up cheating."

"Hmm, guess he's going to either ride with Clyde or bring his sisters along with him," Mikey guessed.

"Maybe, but something tells me he's actually going to end up taking that Santiago girl," Chandler said.

"Ronnie Anne?" Mikey asked. "But why would he take her?" That was the cue Chandler was waiting for so he could start his rumor.

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Chandler asked.

"Hear what?" Mikey asked.

"Lincoln and Ronnie Anne are going out with each other," Chandler said, "turns out that they really really like each other."

"No way, you're kidding," Mikey exclaimed.

"I wish I was," Chandler said before smirking, "and that's not even the craziest part of this story."

"Oh?" Mikey asked.

"Did you know that Ronnie Anne's family is in the country illegally?" Chandler asked. "Turns out, her parents and brother were born in Mexico and Ronnie Anne is the only one who was born in the US."

"Okay, quit pulling my leg," Mikey said, "now you're just messing with me."

"It's true man, I swear!" Chandler insisted. "I hear that her parents' visa is expiring and that her mom plans on marrying her off to Lincoln so that they can gain permanent residence."

"That's crazy," Mikey said and Chandler could tell that the blabber mouth was just dying to tell the next person he saw. It looked like he was going to get away with his plan… but then came the inevitable spanner in the works.

"Yeah, because it's not true," said a quiet voice and Chandler and Mikey looked over to see Lincoln's brother, Lio.

Chandler easily forgot about Lio's existence since the otaku kept to himself and was often so quiet that most of the school thought that he was a mute. Whenever Chandler did remember Lio's existence however, he knew better. While Lincoln clearly wanted to be popular like Chandler and turned a blind eye to the latter's teasing ways, Lio couldn't care less for the bully and would occasionally intervene when Chandler was taunting Lincoln. After the incident with Lori at the pizzeria, Lio had animosity towards Chandler. Chandler figured out pretty quickly that Lio hated when people messed with his family or even so much as insulted them and would occasionally make passing remarks about his sisters within Lio's earshot to stir him up. For the most part however, Chandler only saw Lio as being Lincoln's lapdog of a twin brother and even referred to him as such.

"Well if it isn't Lincoln's little lapdog?" Chandler taunted. "Don't you have to be humping your loser brother's leg or playing dead with your freaky little goth brat?" Chandler saw Lio's eyes light up with rage, but didn't give the geek a chance to respond before asking "Hasn't anyone taught you that it's rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversation?"

"Not when that conversation involves lying about my brother," Lio replied, getting in Chandler's face and telling him "I'm warning you, you better back off and leave Lincoln and his friend alone and stop trying to spread BS rumors about them!"

Chandler wasn't intimidated and simply smirked at Lio, asking "Oh yeah, and what are you going to do if I don't? Ya gonna go running to your brother and tell him about the big bad meanie picking on him?"

"Maybe I'll go to the principal and tell him how you're trying to start trouble," Lio threatened.

"Go ahead," Chandler dared him. "As if he'll believe you. And even if he does, what can he do aside from give me a warning? I'm sure my parents wouldn't be very happy to hear that the staff is picking on their little angel."

"Yeah, but I know you're on thin ice," Lio replied. "I know that teachers have been paying close attention to you and have heard about you being a troublemaker, especially after what you did to that Alex girl. Pretty sure spreading false rumors isn't exactly going to look good on your record."

Chandler lost his bravado and actually backed down, agreeing "Alright, alright, fine! Yeesh, can't you take a joke?"

"Maybe you should rethink your idea of a joke," Lio said, warning Chandler "I'm watching you. I know my brother thinks that you're the bee's knees, but I know you're just a bully. Mess with my family and I'll make sure you regret it."

With that, Lio turned and walked away, with Mikey remarking "Jeez, I think you're right. That kid really can't take a joke."

"You'd think he'd have a sense of humor with that gag flower on his shirt," Chandler quipped as he picked a large rock that was almost half the size of his head up off the ground.

"What are you doing?" Mikey asked.

Chandler ignored him and called out "Hey Lapdog!"

Lio turned around and raised an eyebrow as Chandler threw the rock at his head. Lio didn't have time to react as the rock hit him in the upper right side of his face, catching Lio directly on his right eye.

"Holy cow!" Mikey exclaimed in shock. "What did you do!?"

"I rocked his world," Chandler said, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Dude, he isn't moving!" Mikey said, panicking as he pointed at Lio's unmoving form.

"Relax, he's still breathing," Chandler pointed out as the two of them walked over to where Lio lied.

Lio was facedown on the ground with a puddle of blood pooling beneath his face rather quickly.

"Man, we are going to get in so much trouble," Mikey said.

"We?" Chandler questioned. "You didn't even throw the rock! Just follow my lead and we'll be fine!"

"O-Okay," Mikey said.

"All we have to do is say that he tripped and hit his head," Chandler explained. "No one will suspect a thing."

"Yeah… yeah, you're right," Mikey calmed down before going through with Chandler's plan.

It didn't take long before an ambulance arrived and took Lio to the hospital.

* * *

"So yeah, I don't even know who Tetherby is or why Lynn decided to TP his mansion," Lio said, recounting his story to Chris. "While Lincoln was hanging out with him and then later taking my sisters to Burpin Burgers, I was lying unconscious in a hospital bed."

"Yeah, I remember that," Chris said. "If I recall correctly, you suffered a fractured orbital socket after that, right?"

"Yep," Lio said, taking a sip of his drink. "I think the doctors said that it was an orbital rim fracture to be specific. Either way, as soon as my siblings came home from Burpin', Mom Dad told them about what happened."

"I'm surprised that your sisters didn't beat Chandler to a bloody pulp after that," Chris remarked. "This happened a long time ago and I still wanna tear that jerk a new one."

"Well at first they didn't know," Lio explained. "Remember, Chandler told everyone that I just tripped and hit my head really hard."

"And they believed him?" Chris asked.

"Well, my siblings didn't exactly buy his account of what happened and neither did a few of the teachers," Lio said, "but after Mikey backed up his account, the administration let him off the hook."

"Why didn't you tell them what actually happened?" Chris asked.

"Because I was out cold for a day and a half," Lio explained, "and when I eventually did regain consciousness, I had to spend the next 4 weeks relearning how to walk and talk." Lio then added "When I did regain speech functions, the teachers assumed I was delirious."

"Sounds like you suffered some brain damage," Chris said.

"That's what the doctors said," Lio said. "I'm just lucky that whatever brain damage I suffered barely even really affects me at all now. Aside from occasionally suffering from double vision" Lio then pointed to a faint scar on his head and said "Although if you look closely, you can still see the gash I had from where the rock hit me."

"Wow, that's a huge cut," Chris said.

"Tell me about it," Lio said. "Apparently my face was a bloody mess when they brought me into the ER"

"Well I'm glad you recovered pretty well," Chris said. "Although I still wish that Chandler has been punished for what he did."

"I know that Lynn, Lucy, and Luan wanted to retaliate against him," Lio said, "but our parents didn't want them getting in trouble so they forbade them from getting back at him."

"Honestly, it's a load of crap that Chandler got away with that," Kat chimed in, having been pretty quiet up until this point. "This was before I actually met you, but I remember that Chandler was going around the school bragging about what he'd done, saying that he got away with it."

"And again I ask how did he not get in trouble for throwing at rock at someone's head and nearly killing them?" Chris asked.

"Having parents on the school board, that's how!" Kat said, crossing her arms angrily. "They let him get away with everything back then!"

"Yeah, I can totally see why you hate him," Chris said to the two. "Especially after what he did today. How did it happen again?"

"Well…" Kat and Lio said before divulging what had happened.

* * *

It was amazing how Chandler could make money off of his "enemies". Well, Lio wasn't exactly his enemy, he was more of a nuisance than anything. After Chandler nearly bashed his head in with a rock, Chandler assumed that Lio would never want to tangle with him again. Thus, when word went around that Lincoln was hosting a betting ring on when his brother and this girl named Kat would get together, Chandler was eager to get in on the action. Heck, even the cockroaches could tell that there were sparks between Lio and Kat. When word came around that the two otakus had gotten together over the holiday season, Chandler was ecstatic to collect his portion of the wager. The only way this day could've been any better would be if he could rekindle that old rumor he'd tried to spread back in the day. It'd be even more potent now that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne actually were dating. Nah, that'd be too simple. He needed a new way to entertain himself. That's when he noticed Kat walking through the hallway with Lio nowhere to be seen. That's when he got an idea.

"Well, well, well, fancy seeing you here," Chandler said, walking up to Kat.

"What are you talking about?" Kat replied. "I go to school here, why wouldn't I be here?"

"Well I assumed you'd be sick at home," Chandler retorted. "I mean, you can only hang around a mongrel for so long before you get fleas."

"Does that explain why you can't keep a girl for more than two days?" Kat retorted.

"Ooh, clever girl," Chandler applauded her, "but I'm just trying to look out for you. You can do so much better a filthy lapdog who has a hardon for his own brother."

"Oh what, should I go out with you instead?" Kat replied. "The boy who tries to hook up with every girl in school?"

"What can I say, I'm a go-getter," Chandler bragged. "I'm way better than that lapdog you're seeing."

"At least Lio is-," Kat tried to say before Chandler cut her off.

"He has a name!?" Chandler joked. "I always thought he was just Lincoln's nameless brother!"

"Even if he didn't have a name, Lio would still be a better dude than you," Kat replied.

"We're talking about the kid who's always standing in his siblings' shadow to hide from his own shadow!" Chandler retorted.

"Look, just leave me alone, okay?" Kat said, turning to walk away.

"Hmpf, your dad must be so disappointed," Chandler muttered under her breath, causing Kat to stop dead in her tracks.

"What was that?" Kat said, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I said your dad must be disappointed that you would go out with someone like Lio," Chandler repeated, smirking when he saw Kat struggle and try not to cry. "What's wrong, did I strike a nerve?"

It was common knowledge that Kat's father had served overseas in the military and died in the line of duty about a year ago. Even now, Kat was still mourning the loss and hadn't completely gotten over his death. Unsurprisingly, that made talking about her dad a sore spot from her.

"Don't you ever talk about my dad again!" Kat hissed.

"Why not, is there something wrong with-?" Chandler feigned ignorance, taking delight in the girl struggling to hold back tears. "Oh, that's right." Chandler then shrugged and said "Hey, I didn't mean it, I'm sure he's proud of your choice."

"Fuck you!" Kat said.

"Language, language," Chandler admonished her. "Although am I curious, if he were still alive, I'm sure that the knowledge of who you chose to be with only the second worst thing to go through his head, you know, aside from the bullet that killed him."

Kat didn't even respond and simply turned around and ran, shielding her face so that no one would see her crying. When lunch rolled around, Lio found her sitting at their usual spot, crying her eyes out.

"Lieutenant?" Lio asked. "What's wrong?"

"Don't call me that," Kat snapped at him.

"But I always call you that," Lio said. "Is everything alright?"

"No!" Kat replied, crying uncontrollably.

"What's wrong?" Lio asked.

"You know that Chandler kid?" Kat asked.

"We've crossed paths before," Lio murmured, old memories coming to his mind. "What did the douchebag do?"

Kat simply cried even harder before composing herself and telling Lio "You know about my dad, right?"

"Yeah," Lio said solemnly before putting two and two together. "He didn't make fun of your dad, did he?"

Kat nodded her head and said "He did more than make fun of him. He made a joke about him getting shot in the head."

"Wow…" Lio said. "I knew that he was a piece of garbage, but I didn't think he'd go that far."

"I fucking hate that asshole!" Kat swore, wiping tears from her eyes. As if a douchebag cue had gone off, Chandler arrived on the scene.

"You hear that, Lio?" Chandler taunted him. "Your girlfriend hates you."

Lio glared daggers at Chandler, not saying a word as he held Kat's hand before telling Chandler "Fuck you."

"Oh?" Chandler replied. "You know, you really shouldn't be using such foul language in a setting such as this."

"And you really shouldn't be making fun of people's parents," Lio retorted, standing up to Chandler.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down," Chandler said. "There's nothing to get upset about. It was just a joke? Doesn't your girlfriend have a sense of humor?"

Chandler has this smug grin on his face that made Lio just wanna haul off and slug him in the jaw then and there.

"I mean, I thought she'd have to have some kind of sense of humor to go out with someone like you," Chandler said.

"If I were you, I'd get out of here right now!" Lio hissed.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Chandler taunted. "Because if I recall correctly, last time we squared off… I broke your face."

"If you're feeling so brave then try it again," Lio encouraged him and Kat could tell that he was as serious as a sheer heart attack. He was genuinely willing to fight Chandler.

"Hmpf… fine, I know when I've met my match," Chandler said, turning and walking away with Lio checking to make sure he wasn't reaching for a rock or metal lunchbox to lob at his cranium.

Instead Chandler did something that shocked everyone when he grabbed Kat by the arm and planted a kiss on her lips. It was quite a surprise for Lincoln and Clyde when they entered the cafeteria and the first thing they saw was Lio knocking out Chandler with one punch to the face. Lincoln didn't know what was going on, but quickly leapt into action when Lio stomped Chandler repeatedly as the boy lied unconscious on the ground.

"Alright Lio, chill dude, chill!" Lincoln instructed Lio as he and Clyde rushed over and held him back. The two had to struggle to keep him from further thrashing Chandler, not that that kept Lio from barking out a threat at the unconscious bully.

"I've had it up to here with your shit!" Lio yelled. "If you ever make fun of my brother again, if you ever insult my sisters again, if you ever make my girl cry and if you ever even so much as lay a finger on her again, I swear that I will beat you so bloody that not even Crazy Diamond would be able to fix you!"

* * *

"And that's why I've been suspended for 3 days," Lio explained as he finished telling his story.

"Chandler's parents wanted to get him expelled, but after a bunch of students have their side of the story and a few others came forward with the shit Chandler's been pulling, the school settled with simply suspending Lio," Kat said. "The Real icing on the cake is that thanks to the testimony of other students, the school ended up having no choice but to suspend Chandler as well for bullying."

"Sounds like you just had enough of this kid's crap and finally snapped," Chris observed.

"You don't know the half of it," Lio said, taking another sip of his drink. "You know, my problem with Chandler was never the way he talked down to me or called me Lincoln's lapdog or insulted me, it was the way he treated my family and Lincoln in particular. The way he treated my brother as if he were just a piece of gum to be scraped from off the bottom of his shoe. The way he'd offhandedly call Lucy a goth witch or Lola an ugly barbie wannabe is what really got under my skin. Heck, even thinking back about when he hit me with the rock, what upsets me the most is the fact that he planned on embarrassing Lincoln and Ronnie Anne."

"For the longest time, Lincoln was the only person keeping me from kicking his butt because I'm not going to go against the wishes of my wiser twin brother," Lio said as he took a long sip of his drink and his hands clenched into fists. "But when that prick Chandler made my girl cry and then had the nerve to pull a Dio Brando and steal a kiss from her, I lost it."

"Your Girl?" Kat questioned.

"What?" Lio asked.

"Nothing," Kat said, smiling at him. "I just wanted to hear you say that again, it sounds sweet."

"Well you are my girlfriend," Lio pointed out. "And as far as I'm concerned, you're another member of my family and as you've learned by now, I don't let anyone mess with my family."

"I'm just glad you didn't get in too much trouble with your parents," Chris said. "I'm not one for violence, but that Chandler kid got away with what he did for way too long."

"Yeah, I knew you'd understand," Lio said to Chris. "That's why I came to talk to you, because I knew that you'd probably react the same way if someone treated Scotia or Shogo the way Chandler did. Or if someone made Lynn cry or…"

Chris involuntarily crushed his own cup in his hand, spilling his drink all over the table. "Sorry," he sheepishly apologized.

Lio simply smiled at Chris and said "No need to apologize. That's honestly the reason I trust you so much. You care for my sister's wellbeing first and foremost and while you may not snap on the guy like I did, I know you wouldn't let anyone get away with hurting her."

"Yeah," Chris said.

"Honestly, I wish that I could've gotten a shot in," Kat said. "I'm still pissed off over what he said about my dad."

"True, but if you did hit him, you probably would've been suspended too," Lio pointed out.

"It honestly would've been worth it," Kat said.

"Well next time I'll be sure to let you get in a swift kick to the kuribohs on him," Lio said.

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think you'll have to deal with Chandler again," Chris told them. "It's clear he was only antagonizing you because he thought he could get away without repercussions, whether that be because of his influential parents, because Lincoln held you back or because you just generally refused to fight back. Either way, now that you've given him a slice of humble pie, I doubt he'll try messing with you again."

"Yeah, but he'll probably start messing with younger kids or something," Kat said. "Forgive me for not thinking that he's just gonna up and have a change of heart."

"Maybe not," Chris admitted, "but he can only get away with it for so long."

Chris noticed that Lio still had a downer expression, undoubtedly still upset over getting suspended. It was honestly his first time getting in trouble, so to say that he was a bit concerned about being branded a troublemaker was an understatemen. Both Kat and Chris picked up on this with Kat grabbing Lio's hand to comfort him while Chris patted him on the back.

"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong," Chris assured him. "You were just standing up for your friend. Like I said, I would've done the same thing."

"Thanks," Lio said, smiling at Chris.

"I really appreciate you for standing up for me," Kat said. "You have something that Chandler never will…"

"Brain damage?" Lio joked, taking a moment to self deprecate.

"No, of course not," Kat said, joking "In fact, I think he's got you beat in that department." Chris, Kat, and Lio all shared a laugh at that. "No, but seriously, you've actually got a good heart and truly value those close to you. Chandler could never come close to being half as awesome as you are."

"You really think so?" Lio asked.

"I know so," Kat said. "Come on, let's go check out a movie. I'll even sit through a horror movie if you'd like."

"You'd really do that?" Lio asked.

"After what you did for me, you bet your sweet bippies I would," Kat said.

"Have fun, you two!" Chris called after them, watching as they left. The two really were perfect for each other. At that point, Lynn returned and Chris asked "So how'd it go?"

"Went great," Lynn said. "Until Paula got the bright idea to slash the rich bastard's tires. Kinda had to bolt after that."

"I'd imagine so," Chris said before hugging Lynn and telling her "I've told you what I'd do to anyone who made you cry right?"

"What would you do?" Lynn asked curiously, smiling when Chris gave her his answer. She knew then and there that she was truly cared about. Something she expressed by giving Chris a kiss on the cheek.

 **Wrote this story a few months back, decided it might fit as the fifth chapter of this fic. In my Loudverse, Chandler is an antagonist to both Lincoln and Lio, but Lio holds a lot more animosity towards the boy for his actions.**


End file.
